Profit Sharing and Gainsharing: A Review of Theory, Incidence, and Effects

The slowdown in productivity growth since the 1970s has led to increased interest in alternative compensation schemes—such as profit sharing and gainsharing—that might raise worker productivity and reduce turnover. In this working paper, Jones, Kato, and Pliskin summarize the rise in popularity of profit sharing (PS) and gainsharing (GS) plans; review existing theoretical and empirical work on PS and GS; and highlight findings that relate the effectiveness of such programs at raising productivity and enhancing employment stability. They also note that some existing studies contain some econometric problems relating to plan and model variables; there are measurement problems as well. Their paper primarily focuses on PS plans.