Journalism labor force supply and demand: Is oversupply an explanation for low wages?

Journalism and Mass Communication Quaterly

Volumn 73, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 519-533

  Becker, Lee B ^a   Stone, Vernon A ^a   Graf, Joseph D ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0039611926     PISSN: 10776990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/107769909607300302     Document Type: Article

References (24)

1. Vernon A. Stone, Let's Talk Pay in Television and Radio News (Chicago: Bonus Books, 1993), 13-37.
2. John W.C. Johnstone, Edward J. Slawski, and William W. Bowman, The News People: A Sociological Portrait of American Journalists and Their Work (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1976), 135; David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, The American Journalist (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1986), 84; and David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, The American Journalist in the 1990s (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1992).
3. John W.C. Johnstone, Edward J. Slawski, and William W. Bowman, The News People: A Sociological Portrait of American Journalists and Their Work (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1976), 135; David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, The American Journalist (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1986), 84; and David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, The American Journalist in the 1990s (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1992).
4. John W.C. Johnstone, Edward J. Slawski, and William W. Bowman, The News People: A Sociological Portrait of American Journalists and Their Work (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1976), 135; David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, The American Journalist (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1986), 84; and David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, The American Journalist in the 1990s (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1992).
5. Stone, Let's Talk Pay in Television and Radio News, 141.
6. Ronald G. Ehrenberg and Robert S. Smith, Modern Labor Economics: Theory and Public Policy (NY: Harper Collins, 1994), 22-31; and Sherwin Rosen, "The Theory of Equalizing Differences," in Handbook of Labor Economics, ed. Orley C. Asherfelter and Richard Layard, vol. 1 (NY: North-Holland, 1986), 641-92. The authors are indebted to Dr. George Kosicki of the College of Holy Cross for helping them access the relevant literature on labor economics.
7. Ronald G. Ehrenberg and Robert S. Smith, Modern Labor Economics: Theory and Public Policy (NY: Harper Collins, 1994), 22-31; and Sherwin Rosen, "The Theory of Equalizing Differences," in Handbook of Labor Economics, ed. Orley C. Asherfelter and Richard Layard, vol. 1 (NY: North-Holland, 1986), 641-92. The authors are indebted to Dr. George Kosicki of the College of Holy Cross for helping them access the relevant literature on labor economics.
8. Ehrenberg and Smith, Modern Labor Economics, 220.
9. It is possible and even likely that the supply and demand relationship determines wages for the broadcasting and newspaper industry over time, and a "compensating wage differential" also exists.
10. Lee B. Becker, "Annual Enrollment Census: Comparisons and Projections," Journalism Educator 46 (autumn 1991): 50-60.
11. These analyses had to be carried out for the academic year 1990-91 for reasons unrelated to the purposes of this paper. National data for the previous year were not available for analysis.
12. Becker, "Annual Enrollment Census: Comparisons and Projections," 53.
13. Vernon A. Stone, "Survey Shows College Graduates Getting Jobs," RTNDA Communicator 32 (September 1985): 35-36.
14. ASNE, "Newsroom minorities top 10 percent, ASNE 1993 survey shows," news release: American Society of Newspaper Editors, Reston, VA, 30 March 1993.
15. The authors thank Thomas Engleman, then executive director of the Newspaper Fund and currently associate dean for development and alumni affairs at Temple University, for making the 1985 data available for secondary analysis.
16. According to ASNE data, the number of persons employed in the newsrooms of daily newspapers increased from 53,800 in 1985 to 56,900 in 1990. The number of persons in daily newspaper newsrooms declined in each year after that and stood at 53,600 in 1993. See ASNE (1993).
17. Lee B. Becker, Jeffrey W. Fruit, and Susan L. Caudill, The Training and Hiring of Journalists (Norwood, NJ: ABLEX, 1987), 7; Robert H. Giles, Journalism Education: Facing Up to the Challenge of Change (Reston, VA: American Society of Newspaper Editors, 1990), 4; Vernon A. Stone,'"Broadcast Market Flooded by Non-news Radio-TV Majors," Journalism Educator 42 (spring 1987): 20-23. Vernon A. Stone, "J-Grad Quality and Entry-level Hiring Surveyed," Communicator, December 1989,58-59, reports that of entry-level hires made in TV news, 84.5% were communication majors. In radio, the figure was 83.1%.
18. Lee B. Becker, Jeffrey W. Fruit, and Susan L. Caudill, The Training and Hiring of Journalists (Norwood, NJ: ABLEX, 1987), 7; Robert H. Giles, Journalism Education: Facing Up to the Challenge of Change (Reston, VA: American Society of Newspaper Editors, 1990), 4; Vernon A. Stone,'"Broadcast Market Flooded by Non-news Radio-TV Majors," Journalism Educator 42 (spring 1987): 20-23. Vernon A. Stone, "J-Grad Quality and Entry-level Hiring Surveyed," Communicator, December 1989,58-59, reports that of entry-level hires made in TV news, 84.5% were communication majors. In radio, the figure was 83.1%.
19. Lee B. Becker, Jeffrey W. Fruit, and Susan L. Caudill, The Training and Hiring of Journalists (Norwood, NJ: ABLEX, 1987), 7; Robert H. Giles, Journalism Education: Facing Up to the Challenge of Change (Reston, VA: American Society of Newspaper Editors, 1990), 4; Vernon A. Stone,'"Broadcast Market Flooded by Non-news Radio-TV Majors," Journalism Educator 42 (spring 1987): 20-23. Vernon A. Stone, "J-Grad Quality and Entry-level Hiring Surveyed," Communicator, December 1989,58-59, reports that of entry-level hires made in TV news, 84.5% were communication majors. In radio, the figure was 83.1%.
20. Lee B. Becker, Jeffrey W. Fruit, and Susan L. Caudill, The Training and Hiring of Journalists (Norwood, NJ: ABLEX, 1987), 7; Robert H. Giles, Journalism Education: Facing Up to the Challenge of Change (Reston, VA: American Society of Newspaper Editors, 1990), 4; Vernon A. Stone,'"Broadcast Market Flooded by Non-news Radio-TV Majors," Journalism Educator 42 (spring 1987): 20-23. Vernon A. Stone, "J-Grad Quality and Entry-level Hiring Surveyed," Communicator, December 1989,58-59, reports that of entry-level hires made in TV news, 84.5% were communication majors. In radio, the figure was 83.1%.
21. Becker, Fruit, and Caudill, The Training and Hiring of Journalists, 121.
22. Hierarchial regression is appropriate here, since the theoretical question of concern is the new variance explained by media type after other variables are held constant. Variables were entered in blocks reflecting (1) demographic characteristics of the employee, (2) characteristics of the em-ploying community, (3) training characteristics of the employee, and (4) type of employer. Salary was measured as actual annual salary. Independent variables other than population size, GPA, and number of internships were coded as 0 or 1.
23. See Steven Lacy and Daniel Riffe, "The Impact of Competition and Group Ownership on Radio News," Journalism Quarterly 71 (autumn 1994): 583-93.
24. The data also are not adequate for a detailed test of any regional differences in the labor market. While there is evidence that labor markets in the United States, compared with other developed countries, do have regional differences, journalism and mass communication programs exist across the United States today, and students are expected to be mobile enough to respond to and thereby modify over time regional differences. See Richard B. Freeman, "How Labor Fares in Advanced Economies," in Working Under Different Rules, ed. Richard B. Freeman (NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 1994), 1-28.