A Study in Structural Change:Relative Earnings in Wales since the 1970s

The Welsh economy has undergone rapid structural change in recent years.This paper uses data from the New Earnings Survey to examine how earnings in Waleschanged relative to those of Great Britain between 1975 and 1994. There are five mainfindings. First, earnings of workers in Wales have declined relative to those in Great Britain.Second, the shift away from full-time men has been an important factor in the fall in averagerelative earnings. Third, the decline in the relative earnings of full-time men is mostlyexplained by falling relative earnings in construction, distribution, and transport, as well asthe failure of workers in banking and financial services in Wales to keep up with theircounterparts in Great Britain. Fourth, the shift in full-time employment to health, educationand other services has tended to support relative earnings. Fifth, the decline in full-timemen's earnings seems to be an equilibrium phenomenon that will not naturally reverse itself....