Publication:
The Wage Labor Market and Inequality in Vietnam in the 1990s

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dc.contributor.authorGallup, John Luke
dc.date.accessioned2014-08-08T21:12:18Z
dc.date.available2014-08-08T21:12:18Z
dc.date.issued2002-09
dc.description.abstractHas the expansion of wage employment in Vietnam exacerbated social inequalities, despite its contribution to income growth? Gallup uses the two rounds of the Vietnamese Living Standards Survey (VLSS) to evaluate the contribution of wage employment to inequality and income growth over the period of rapid economic growth in the 1990s following market reforms. If Vietnam sustains its economic development in the future, wage employment will become an ever more important source of household income as family farms and self-employed household enterprises become less prevalent. Observing the recent evolution of wage employment compared with farm and non-farm self-employment provides clues as to how economic development will change Vietnamese society, in particular its impact on income inequality within and between communities. The author shows that standard methods for calculating income inequality can be severely biased due to measurement error when decomposing the contribution of different sectors, regions, or groups to overall inequality. A new method for consistent decomposition of inequality by income source shows that despite the rapid growth of wages in the 1990s, wage inequality fell modestly. Contrary to the results of uncorrected methods, wage employment contributes a roughly similar amount to overall income inequality as other nonagricultural employment (household enterprise and remittances, mainly). Agricultural income actually reduces overall income inequality because inequality between agricultural households is much lower than inequality between nonagricultural households, and agricultural income has a lower correlation with other income sources. Wage employment has not been the locus of growing disparity between the haves and the have-nots in Vietnam. A declining share of agriculture as the economy grows in Vietnam means that income inequality will rise, assuming that within-sector inequality does not change. This rising inequality, due to the shrinking share of agriculture, will be difficult to avoid without giving up economic growth and rapid poverty reduction in Vietnam. Historically, the process of economic development has always brought about a transition out of small farms and household enterprises into wage employment as worker productivity increases and non-household enterprises dominate the economy.en
dc.identifierhttp://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2002/09/2031706/wage-labor-market-inequality-viet-nam-1990s
dc.identifier.doi10.1596/1813-9450-2896
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/19272
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherWorld Bank, Washington, DC
dc.relation.ispartofseriesPolicy Research Working Paper;No. 2896
dc.rightsCC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/
dc.subjectWAGE RATE
dc.subjectLABOR MARKET CHARACTERISTICS
dc.subjectWAGE DIFFERENTIATION
dc.subjectEMPLOYMENT
dc.subjectSOCIAL INEQUALITY
dc.subjectINCOME GROWTH
dc.subjectLIVING STANDARDS INDICATORS
dc.subjectECONOMIC GROWTH
dc.subjectMARKET REFORMS
dc.subjectSECTORAL ASSESSMENT
dc.subjectAGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY
dc.subjectPRODUCTIVITY GROWTH AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
dc.subjectAVERAGE INCOME
dc.subjectAVERAGE LEVEL
dc.subjectAVERAGE RATE
dc.subjectBETWEEN-GROUP INEQUALITY
dc.subjectCONSUMPTION SMOOTHING
dc.subjectCROSS-COUNTRY INEQUALITY
dc.subjectDEBT
dc.subjectDECREASING RATE
dc.subjectDEVELOPING COUNTRIES
dc.subjectDURABLE GOODS
dc.subjectECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
dc.subjectECONOMIC GROWTH
dc.subjectECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION
dc.subjectEMPLOYMENT
dc.subjectFARMS
dc.subjectFINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
dc.subjectGINI COEFFICIENT
dc.subjectGROUP INEQUALITY
dc.subjectGROWTH RATES
dc.subjectHIGH INEQUALITY
dc.subjectHOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION
dc.subjectHOUSEHOLD INCOME
dc.subjectHOUSEHOLD MEMBERS
dc.subjectINCOME
dc.subjectINCOME DATA
dc.subjectINCOME DISTRIBUTION
dc.subjectINCOME GROWTH
dc.subjectINCOME INEQUALITY
dc.subjectINCOME LEVEL
dc.subjectINCOME LEVELS
dc.subjectINCOME SOURCE
dc.subjectINCOME SOURCES
dc.subjectINCOMES
dc.subjectINEQUALITY
dc.subjectINEQUALITY INDEX
dc.subjectINEQUALITY MEASURE
dc.subjectINEQUALITY MEASURES
dc.subjectLABOR COSTS
dc.subjectLABOR FORCE
dc.subjectLABOR MARKET
dc.subjectLABOR MARKETS
dc.subjectLIVING STANDARDS
dc.subjectLOW INCOME
dc.subjectLOW INCOME COUNTRIES
dc.subjectMACROECONOMICS
dc.subjectMARKET ACTIVITIES
dc.subjectMEAN INCOME
dc.subjectMEASUREMENT ERROR
dc.subjectMEASUREMENT ERRORS
dc.subjectMEASURING INEQUALITY
dc.subjectMIDDLE CLASS
dc.subjectNATURAL LOGARITHM
dc.subjectNEGATIVE CORRELATION
dc.subjectNET INCOME
dc.subjectPER CAPITA GROWTH
dc.subjectPOLICY RESEARCH
dc.subjectPOOR
dc.subjectPOOR HOUSEHOLDS
dc.subjectPOSITIVE IMPACT
dc.subjectPOVERTY REDUCTION
dc.subjectPRODUCTIVITY
dc.subjectRAPID GROWTH
dc.subjectREAL GNP
dc.subjectREAL WAGES
dc.subjectREDUCED POVERTY
dc.subjectREGIONAL DIFFERENCES
dc.subjectRELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS
dc.subjectRISING INEQUALITY
dc.subjectSAVINGS
dc.subjectSECTORAL COMPOSITION
dc.subjectSOCIAL PROBLEMS
dc.subjectUNEMPLOYMENT
dc.subjectWAGE INEQUALITY
dc.subjectWAGE RATES
dc.subjectWELL-BEING
dc.titleThe Wage Labor Market and Inequality in Vietnam in the 1990sen
dspace.entity.typePublication
okr.crosscuttingsolutionareaJobs
okr.crossref.titleThe Wage Labor Market and Inequality in Vietnam in the 1990s
okr.date.disclosure2002-09
okr.date.doiregistration2025-04-10T11:17:08.185035Z
okr.doctypePublications & Research::Policy Research Working Paper
okr.doctypePublications & Research
okr.docurlhttp://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2002/09/2031706/wage-labor-market-inequality-viet-nam-1990s
okr.globalpracticeSocial Protection and Labor
okr.globalpracticePoverty
okr.globalpracticeGovernance
okr.guid906631468778483346
okr.identifier.doi10.1596/1813-9450-2896
okr.identifier.externaldocumentum000094946_02101805105199
okr.identifier.internaldocumentum2031706
okr.identifier.reportWPS2896
okr.language.supporteden
okr.pdfurlhttp://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2002/11/01/000094946_02101805105199/Rendered/PDF/multi0page.pdfen
okr.region.administrativeEast Asia and Pacific
okr.region.countryViet Nam
okr.sector(Historic)Sector not applicable
okr.topicEconomic Theory and Research
okr.topicPoverty Reduction::Poverty Impact Evaluation
okr.topicEnvironmental Economics and Policies
okr.topicSocial Protections and Labor::Labor Policies
okr.topicServices and Transfers to Poor
okr.topicGovernance::Governance Indicators
okr.topicPoverty Reduction::Inequality
okr.unitOff of Sr VP Dev Econ/Chief Econ (DECVP)
okr.volume1
relation.isSeriesOfPublication26e071dc-b0bf-409c-b982-df2970295c87
relation.isSeriesOfPublication.latestForDiscovery26e071dc-b0bf-409c-b982-df2970295c87
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