Wage Garnishment in the United States: New Facts from Administrative Payroll Records
中文摘要
工资扣发允许债权人从工人的工资中扣款以偿还违约债务。我们使用一家大型工资处理商的数据，记录了2014年至2019年间关于工资扣发的新事实，该处理商向大约20%的美国私营部门工人发放工资。到2019年，每100名工人中就有超过1人因拖欠债务而被扣发工资。平均而言，被扣发工资的工人会经历5个月的扣发期，在此期间，其总收入的约11%被汇给其债权人。工资扣发的开始伴随着工作流动率的增加，但在工作小时数上没有集约边际的变化。(JEL G51, J22, J63)
Abstract
Wage garnishment allows creditors to deduct money from workers’ paychecks to repay defaulted debts. We document new facts about wage garnishment between 2014 and 2019 using data from a large payroll processor that distributes paychecks to approximately 20 percent of US private-sector workers. By 2019, over 1 in every 100 workers was being garnished for delinquent debt. The average garnished worker experiences garnishment for five months, during which approximately 11 percent of gross earnings is remitted to their creditor(s). The beginning of a garnishment is associated with an increase in job turnover but no intensive margin change in hours worked. (JEL G51, J22, J63)