Does wage reflect labor productivity? A comparison between Brazil and the United States

Abstract

The study compares the relationship between wages and labor productivity for different categories of workers in Brazil and in the U.S. Analyses highlight to what extent the equilibrium between wages and productivity is related to the degree of economic development. Wages in the U.S. has shown to be more attached to labor productivity, while Brazil has experienced several economic cycles were average earnings grew initially much faster than labor productivity, suddenly falling down in the subsequent years. Analyses also stress how wage differentials, in fact, match productivity differentials for certain occupational groups, while for others they do not.