Wage Differentials and Their Determinants in US Tourism and Tourism-Associated Industries

Abstract

This paper examines variations in wages for tourism and tourismassociated industries in the USA for the period [2004][2005][2006][2007][2008][2009]. It critically assesses the extent to which tourism and tourism-associated activities conform to their low-wage stereotype and finds this to be true in general, but not universally. It then considers the possibility that wages in US tourism and tourism-associated industries can be explained by observable characteristics of these industries. Recent research suggests that the use of wage data at the level of highly detailed occupations is an effective alternative to other ways of capturing underlying skill differences. Accordingly, data from the US Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) were used to provide this detail. The results strongly support the importance of difference in wages between occupations in understanding differences between industries. They also support the importance of a number of industry characteristics, including profitability, multi-factor productivity and demand growth. The paper also considers the relevance of an industry wage premium or discount for tourism and tourism-associated activities in the USA over the same period. It estimates an industry wage model separately for five individual occupations across all industries that employ for the occupation concerned. The analysis shows that workers in the two more highly paid occupations exhibit evidence of a tourism and tourism-associated discount but that workers in the three more lowly paid occupations exhibit a tourism and tourismassociated wage premium.

Gender Wage Gap in Hospitality

“…In South Korea, Lee and Kang (1998) stated that sectors like the hospitality industry, with a huge proportion of female workers, tend to be characterized by lower mean wages. Although in the United States, Webster (2014) concluded that, in general, wages in the hospitality sector are lower; however, in the worst paid hospitality jobs, there is a wage premium, while in the best paid ones there is a wage discount. Additionally, Brandt (2018) achieved similar results in Sweden, where he found lower mean wages for workers in the tourism sector compared with the rest of the economy using panel data.…”

“…This result also applies to other economies, like Portugal (Santos & Varejao, 2007) or South Korea (Lee & Kang, 1998). Interestingly, Webster (2014) also found lower wages in the hospitality sector, although there was a wage premium in the case of the worst paid jobs. The article explores whether the hospitality sector pays lower or higher wages than the other sectors (conditional on the observed characteristics of the worker, company, and position).…”

The Tourism Sector and U.S. Regional Macroeconomic Stability: A Network Approach

“…The economic importance of tourism has become increasingly recognized throughout the world. Research into tourism employment, however, remains an understudied area of analysis [14][15][16][17][18][19]. With high rates of temporary and part-time work [20] along with typically high levels of seasonality [4,21] creates unique challenges in maintaining employment stability in specific areas of tourism.…”

The gender wage gap across the wage distribution: Evidence in tourism at the sectoral level

“…In this respect, Choy (1995) and Shu et al (2022) have observed a significant wage gap between sectors in Hawaii and China, respectively, showing that the highest average wages are in the air transport sector and the lowest in the catering service sector. Similarly, Webster (2014) conducted an analysis of wage levels in the tourism and tourism-associated sectors in the United States, demonstrating that wage levels were below those in the overall economy.…”