Income and Inequality: The Role of the Service Sector in the Changing Distribution of Income

The United States is becoming an information-based, service economy with fewer middle-income jobs than in an industrial economy. How does increasing service sector employment affect community income and thus social well-being? This well-documented study assesses the impact of changing levels of employment in the service and manufacturing sectors on the level and distribution of community income.

The study includes both analyses of low-wage and high-wage service and manufacturing sectors and analyses of major segments of the service sector, including business services and retail trade. Measures of social well-being include changes in community aggregate income, aggregate wages and salaries, distribution of income within the community, and the community’s position in the regional hierarchy. Particular attention is given to differences in impact on rural and urban communities. The book will be of interest to those concerned with rural economic development and issues related to inequality and economic and industrial change.