Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Plastics industry and trade--Economic aspects--Iowa; Plastics workers--Iowa--Economic conditions; Plastics--Recycling--Economic aspects--Iowa; Plastics industry and trade--Economic aspects; Iowa;
Abstract
This thesis provides an exploratory analysis of the occupational and wage structures of a predefined set of plastics companies in Iowa. Characteristics of the occupational and wage structures of recycling and nonrecycling based companies in the plastics industry in Iowa were compared to a standard established by the 1992 Iowa Statewide Wage Survey. The theory of the diminishing middle was used as the guiding framework from which to draw assumptions. The plastics industry was defined as all companies in the state of Iowa engaging in any combination of collection, processing, or manufacturing of recycled or raw plastic products for economic gain. The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code of 308 (rubber and plastic products) and others were combined to provide a more comprehensive group of plastics companies in Iowa. The subjects of this study were divided into two groups, recycling and non-recycling companies, with the state being the third or comparison group. Companies defined as recycling based were those engaging in the collection, processing, or manufacturing of recycled plastic products. Non-recycling companies did not include any significant amount of recycled products in these activities. The study, funded by the Iowa Waste Reduction Center, contained responses from 58 companies to a mailed questionnaire. Findings show non-recycling companies had a greater proportion of employees in the top of the wage distribution than any other group. Recycling companies had a larger proportion of employees in the middle when compared with non-recycling companies. The occupational structures of the plastics industry (recycling and nonrecycling combined) and the state of Iowa were found to be dissimilar, showing a large proportion of labor and precision workers in the plastics industry. Wages in the plastics industry were found to be higher across all five occupational categories (except labor and precision in recycling companies) than in the state. Non-recycling companies had higher mean wages across all occupational categories than both recycling and state companies. Two explanations for these findings are (a) manufacturing pays higher wages than collection and processing normally found in recycling firms and (b) recycling companies are younger than non-recycling companies suggesting that wages have not had a chance to mature. This study concluded that while recycling economic development does alter the wage and occupational structure and provides middle income jobs, more research must be conducted before making assumptions about its impacts on an industry.
Year of Submission
1998
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology
First Advisor
Jerry Stockdale
Second Advisor
Gene Lutz
Third Advisor
Janet Rives
Date Original
1998
Object Description
1 PDF file (90 leaves)
Copyright
©1998 Dawn Marie Dungan
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Dungan, Dawn Marie, "Recycling Economic Development: Observing the Wage and Occupational Structure of the Plastics Industry" (1998). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2525.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2525
Comments
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