The DOI matches its Crossref record; 17 of the 17 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
“Does Outsourcing Reduce Wages in the Low-Wage Service Occupations? Evidence from Janitors and Guards”
Abstract
Outsourcing of labor services grew substantially during the 1980s and 1990s and was associated with lower wages, fewer benefits, and lower rates of unionization. The authors focus on two occupations for which they can identify outsourcing in those two decades using industry and occupation codes: janitors and guards. Across a wide array of specifications, they find that the outsourcing wage penalty ranged from 4% to 7% for janitors and from 8% to 24% for guards. Their findings on health benefits mirror those on wages. Evidence suggests that the outsourcing penalty was not due to compensating differentials for higher benefits or lower hours, skill differences, or the types of industries that outsourced. Rather, outsourcing seems to have reduced labor market rents for workers, especially for those in the upper half of the occupational wage distribution. Industries with higher historical wage premia were more likely to outsource service work.
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“It may also reduce the bargaining power of both in-house and outsourced workers in occupations subject to outsourcing threats and increased labor market competition (Dube and Kaplan, 2010; Goldschmidt and Schmieder, 2017).”
From The Fall of the Labor Share and the Rise of Superstar Firms* (2020) · cites this paper as Dube and Kaplan, 2010
Citations
Cites
The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration
Grossman, S. J., & Hart, O. (1986) · Journal of Political Economy · doi:10.1086/261404 · Cited by 9,309
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DiNardo, J., Fortin, N. M., & Lemieux, T. (1996) · Econometrica · doi:10.2307/2171954 · Cited by 2,917
The Fair Wage-Effort Hypothesis and Unemployment
Akerlof, G. A., & Yellen, J. L. (1990) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.2307/2937787 · Cited by 2,164
EFFICIENCY WAGES AND THE INTER-INDUSTRY WAGE STRUCTURE
Krueger, A., & Summers, L. (1988) · Econometrica · doi:10.2307/1911072 · Cited by 1,856
Brown, C. C., & Medoff, J. (1989) · Journal of Political Economy · doi:10.1086/261642 · Cited by 1,535
Autor, D. H. (2003) · Journal of Labor Economics · doi:10.1086/344122 · Cited by 1,534
A Formal Theory of the Employment Relationship
Simon, H. A. (1951) · Econometrica · doi:10.2307/1906815 · Cited by 1,337
Job Mobility and the Careers of Young Men
Topel, R., & Ward, M. P. (1992) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.2307/2118478 · Cited by 1,197
Job Mobility and the Careers of Young Men
Topel, R., & Ward, M. P. (1988) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w2649 · Cited by 1,076
Firms' Use of Outside Contractors: Theory and Evidence
Abraham, K. G., & Taylor, S. K. (1996) · Journal of Labor Economics · doi:10.1086/209816 · Cited by 570
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Abraham Katharine, 1988, Employment, Unemployment and Hours of Work, 288
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 201–203 of 203
Unstable Work in a Fissured Economy: Tracking Employment in Subcontractor Establishments in France
Aeppli, C. (2026) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/00031224261448194
“…using abrupt decreases in a firm’s support-service employment, and identify contracted firms only in cleaning, security, and other support-service industries (on France, see Bilal and Lhuillier 2025; on Germany, see Goldschmidt and Schmieder 2017; on the United States, see Dube and Kaplan 2010).”
Regulating Labor Market Intermediation: Fee Design and the Screening-Investment TradeoffPreprint
Kaiser, R. (2026) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.6966669
Firm organization and worker outcomes: The role of occupational specialization
Cortés, G. M., Dabed, D., Oliveira, A., & Salomons, A. (2026) · Labour Economics · doi:10.1016/j.labeco.2026.102940
Metadata
- Authors
- Dube, A., & Kaplan, E.
- Affiliations
- Stockholm University (SE)
- Venue
- ILR Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2010-01
- Volume
- 63
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 287-306
- ISSN
- 0019-7939 (ISSN-L)
- 2162-271X
- OpenAlex
- W1479909922
- Cited by
- 203
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 13.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Industrial and Labor Relations Review (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Labor market dynamics and wage inequality
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › General Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Global trade and economics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Industrial relations › Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies
- Keywords
- labor outsourcing, wage penalty, cleaning workers, guards, health benefits, unionization, compensating differentials, service sector employment
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