Publication:
Twenty Years of Wage Inequality in Latin America

Simple item page
creativeworkseries.issn1564-698X
dc.contributor.authorMessina, Julian
dc.date.accessioned2023-08-29T14:12:30Z
dc.date.available2023-08-29T14:12:30Z
dc.date.issued2019-12-06
dc.description.abstractThis article documents an inverse U-shape in the evolution of wage inequality in Latin America since 1995, with a sharp reduction starting in 2002. The Gini coefficient of wages increased from 42 to 44 between 1995 and 2002 and declined to 39 by 2015. Between 2002 and 2015, the 90/10 log hourly earnings ratio decreased by 26 percent. The decline since 2002 was characterized by rising wages across the board, but especially at the bottom of the wage distribution in each country. Triggered by a rapid expansion of educational attainment, the wages of college and high school graduates fell relative to the wages of workers with only primary education. The premium for labor market experience also fell significantly. However, the compression of wages was not entirely driven by changes in the wage structure across skill groups. Two-thirds of the decline in the variance of wages took place within skill groups. Changes in the sectoral, occupational, and formal/informal composition of jobs matter for the process of reduction in inequality, but they do not fully account for the fall in within-skill variance. Evidence based on longitudinal matched employer-employee administrative data suggests that an important driver was falling wage dispersion across firms.en
dc.identifier.citationThe World Bank Economic Review
dc.identifier.doi10.1596/40285
dc.identifier.issn0258-6770 (print)
dc.identifier.issn1564-698X (online)
dc.identifier.urihttps://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/40285
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherPublished by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
dc.relation.ispartofseriesWorld Bank Economic Review
dc.rightsCC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holderWorld Bank
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
dc.subjectINEQUALITY
dc.subjectLABOR MARKETS
dc.subjectFIRM DYNAMICS
dc.subjectDEVELOPMENT
dc.subjectSCHOOLING AND EXPERIENCE PREMIUMS
dc.subjectINFORMALITY
dc.titleTwenty Years of Wage Inequality in Latin Americaen
dc.typeJournal Article
dspace.entity.typePublication
okr.associatedcontenthttps://academic.oup.com/wber/article/35/1/117/5661118 Journal website (version of record)
okr.crossref.titleTwenty Years of Wage Inequality in Latin America
okr.date.disclosure2023-08-29
okr.doctypePublications & Research::Journal Article
okr.identifier.doi10.1093/wber/lhz029
okr.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1596/40285
okr.language.supporteden
okr.pagenumber117-147
okr.region.geographicalLatin America
okr.topicSocial Protections and Labor::Labor Markets
okr.topicSocial Protections and Labor::Labor Standards
okr.topicEducation::Education Indicators and Statistics
okr.topicPoverty Reduction::Inequality
okr.volume35 (1)
relation.isAuthorOfPublication6610b5d1-45b5-5f8a-864f-5d79bae5927c
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery6610b5d1-45b5-5f8a-864f-5d79bae5927c
relation.isJournalIssueOfPublication5e228d66-d0bc-491f-b8a9-09ab39725513
relation.isJournalIssueOfPublication.latestForDiscovery5e228d66-d0bc-491f-b8a9-09ab39725513
relation.isJournalOfPublicationc41eae2f-cf94-449d-86b7-f062aebe893f
relation.isJournalVolumeOfPublication3a13adfa-b971-4f6d-9aaa-21ba96efc218
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
lhz029.pdf
Size:
1.64 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.71 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Journal Articles