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How Prevalent is Performance-Related Pay in the United States? Current Incidence and Recent Trends

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

Maury Gittleman  and
Brooks Pierce
Maury Gittleman*
Affiliation:
US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Brooks Pierce
Affiliation:
US Bureau of Labor Statistics
*
E-mail: gittleman_m@bls.gov
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Abstract

We address basic questions about performance-related pay in the US. How widespread is it? What characteristics of employers and jobs are associated with it? What are recent trends in its incidence? What factors are responsible for these trends? Nearly two-fifths of hours worked in the US economy in 2013 were in jobs with performance-related pay, but this share has been declining. We consider several possible causes for this trend and find that they do not have much explanatory power. We do establish, however, that any potential explanation must also account for a long-term shift in the relative incidence of performance-related pay away from low-wage and toward high-wage jobs.

Keywords

performance-related payincentive paybonusesJ33M52
Type
Research Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 226 , November 2013 , pp. R4 - R16
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

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Footnotes

We are grateful to the editors and two referees for insightful comments. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of policies of the Bureau of Labor Statistics or any other agency of the US Department of Labor. Researchers may gain access to the data used here by applying to BLS's onsite researcher programme (for details, see http://www.bls.gov/bls/blsresda.htm).

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