UK wage inequality: An industry and regional perspective

This paper looks at male wage inequality in the United Kingdom across industries and regions over a fifteen year period. After controlling for the heterogeneity of productivity characteristics across the population, that part of wage inequality which cannot be explained by observable worker characteristics is examined. This is undertaken at both the industry and regional level to assess the key themes dominate in the literature capable of explaining within-group wage inequality, namely: technology; globalisation; female participation; immigration; shifts in the supply of relative education across cohorts; and falling unionisation.