The Gender Wage Gap in Peru 1986-2000: Evidence from a Matching Comparisons Approach

Applying the methodology developed in Ñopo (2004), this paper analyzes the evolution of the gender wage gap in Peru from 1986 to 2000. This methodology has two advantages. First, it recognizes that the supports of observable characteristics distributions differ substantially. Second, it provides deeper insights regarding the distribution of the unexplained gender differences in earnings. For the period under analysis, males earn on average 45 percent more than females. This wage gap is composed of three additive elements: 11 percent differences in supports, 6 percent differences in distributions of individual characteristics and 28 percent unexplainable differences. About half of these unexplainable differences occur in the highest quintile of the wage distribution.Matching, Non-parametric, Gender Wage Gap, Latin America

Etnicidad y acumulación de capital humano en México Urbano

Se analiza la movilidad social y la acumulación de capital humano entre minorías étnicas en zonas urbanas de México, se exploran los cambios en el logro académico y la situación en el mercado laboral y se emplean datos de panel provenientes de la Encuesta sobre la Vida de la Familia Mexicana (MFxLS). Los resultados apuntan a importantes diferencias étnicas en los patrones de acumulación de capital humano, especialmente en la educación, donde los individuos no indígenas parecen acumular capital humano con mayor rapidez que los individuos de descendencia indígena. Además, características sociales y demográficas vinculadas con esos patrones de acumulación de capital humano parecen diferir entre los individuos de extracción indígena y los de extracción no indígena. En especial, en el caso de pueblos indígenas en zonas urbanas, la acumulación de capital humano y la acumulación de riqueza parecen obrar más como sustitutos que como complementos en el corto plazo.Social mobility, human capital accumulation, education, ethnic minorities, urban areas, Mexico

Evolution of Gender Gaps in Latin America at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: An Addendum to "New Century, Old Disparities"

This paper complements the findings of Atal, Ñopo and Winder (2009) on gender and ethnic wage gaps for 18 Latin American countries circa 2005 by analyzing gender wage gaps for the same countries between circa 1992 and circa 2007. During this span the overall gender earnings gaps dropped about 7 percentage points, while the unexplained component dropped between 3 and 4 percentage points, depending on the control variables used. The gap declined most notably among workers at the bottom of the earnings distribution, with children at home, the self-employed, part-time workers and those in rural areas—the segments of the labor market that were previously reported as having the highest unexplained gender disparities. Most of the reduction in unexplained gaps occurred within segments rather than due to the composition of labor markets. The paper additionally finds a limited role for job tenure in explaining gender wage gaps.Gender, Wage gaps, Latin America, Matching

Ethnic and Gender Wage Gaps in Ecuador

Returns to labor for workers with similar endowments of productive characteristics in Ecuador are influenced by two characteristics that, arguably, should play no role on the determination of wages: gender and ethnicity. This paper analyzes wage gaps due to both characteristics in Ecuador for the period 2003-2007, applying a matching comparisons technique developed in Ñopo (2008). The results indicate ethnic wage gaps that are notably higher than gender wage gaps. Furthermore, ethnic wage gaps are higher among males than among females. Differences in human capital characteristics, however, explain almost one-half of the ethnic wage gaps but only a small fraction of the gender wage gaps. Both gender and ethnic wage gaps are more pronounced at the lower extremes of the earnings distribution.Matching, Non-parametric, Wage Gaps, Gender, Ethnicity, Latin America

Teachers' Salaries in Latin America: How Much Are They (Under or Over) Paid?

This paper documents the extent to which teachers are underpaid vis-à-vis workers in other professional and technical occupations in Latin America circa 2007. These labor earnings differences, attributed to observable socio-demographic and job characteristics, are assessed using a matching methodology (Ñopo, 2008). Teachers' underpayment is found to be stronger than what has been previously reported in the literature, especially among pre-school and primary teachers. Nonetheless, behind the region averages there is an important cross-country heterogeneity. Teachers' underpayment is more pronounced among males, older workers, household heads, part-timers, formal workers, those who work in the private sector, and (mostly) among those with complete tertiary education. Two amenities of the teaching profession, namely the longer job tenure and the flexible job schedules within the year, are also explored. Even after accounting for the possible compensating differentials of these two amenities, teachers' underpayment vis-à-vis that of other professional and technicians prevail.wage differentials, professional labor markets, Latin America

Evolution of Gender Wage Gaps in Latin America at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: An Addendum to "New Century, Old Disparities"

This paper complements the findings of Atal, Ñopo and Winder (2010) on gender and ethnic wage gaps for 18 Latin American countries circa 2005 by analyzing gender wage gaps for the same countries between circa 1992 and circa 2007. During this span the overall gender earnings gaps dropped about 7 percentage points, while the unexplained component dropped between 3 and 4 percentage points, depending on the control variables used. The gap declined most notably among workers at the bottom of the earnings distribution, with children at home, the self-employed, part-time workers and those in rural areas – the segments of the labor market that were previously reported as having the highest unexplained gender disparities. Most of the reduction in unexplained gaps occurred within segments rather than due to the composition of labor markets. The paper additionally finds a limited role for job tenure in explaining gender wage gaps.gender, wage gaps, Latin America, matching

Matching as a Tool to Decompose Wage Gaps

In this paper I present a methodology that uses matching comparisons to explain gender differences in wages. The approach emphasizes gender differences in the supports of the distributions of observable characteristics and provides useful insights about the distribution of the unexplained gender differences in pay. The proposed methodology, a non-parametric alternative to the Blinder-Oaxaca (BO) wage gap decomposition, does not require the estimation of earnings equations. It breaks down the gap into four additive elements, two of which are analogous to the elements of the BO decompostion (but computed only over the common support of the distributions of characteristics), while the other two account for differences in the supports. Using data for Peru in the period 1986-2000, I found that this problem of non-comparability accounts for 23% and 30% of the male and female working populations respectively. The matching methodology allows us to quantify the effect of explicitly recognizing these differences in the supports. In this way, the 45% gender wage gap in Peru is decomposed as: 11% explained by differences in the supports, 6% explained by differences in the distributions of individual characteristics and the remaining 28% cannot be explained by differences in observable individuals' characteristics. Approximately half of the latter is due to unexplained differences in the highest quintile of the wage distribution.matching, non-parametric, gender wage gap, Latin America

The Persistent Gender Earnings Gap in Colombia, 1994-2006

This paper surveys gender earnings gaps in Colombia from 1994 to 2006, using matching comparisons to examine the extent to which individuals with similar human capital characteristics earn different wages. Three sub-periods are considered: 1994-1998; 2000-2001; and 2002- 2006, corresponding to the economic cycle of the Colombian economy. The gaps dropped from the first to the second period but remained almost unchanged between the second and the third. The gender earnings gap remains largely unexplained after controlling for different combinations of socio-demographics and job-related characteristics, reaching between 13 and 23 percent of average female earnings. That gap is lower at the middle of the wage distributions than the extremes, possibly due to a gender-equalizing effect of the minimum wage. Moreover, the gap is more pronounced for low-productivity workers and those who need flexibility to participate in labor markets. This suggests that policy interventions in the form of labor market regulations may have little impact on reducing gender earnings gaps.gender, ethnicity, wage gaps, Latin America, Colombia, matching

The Persistent Gender Earnings Gap in Colombia, 1994-2006

This paper surveys gender wage gaps in Colombia from 1994 to 2006, using matching comparisons to examine the extent to which individuals with similar human capital characteristics earn different wages. Three sub-periods are considered: 1994-1998; 2000- 2001; and 2002- 2006. The gaps dropped from the first to the second period but remained almost unchanged between the second and the third. The gender wage gap remains largely unexplained after controlling for different combinations of socio-demographics and job-related characteristics, reaching between 13 and 23 percent of average female wages. That gap is lower at the middle of the wage distributions than the extremes, possibly due to a gender-equalizing effect of the minimum wage. Moreover, the gap is more pronounced for low-productivity workers and those who need flexibility to participate in labor markets. This suggests that policy interventions in the form of labor market regulations may have little impact on reducing gender wage gaps.Gender, Ethnicity, Wage gaps, Latin America, Colombia, Matching

Ethnicity and Earnings in Urban Peru

In this paper we study the relationship between ethnic exclusion and earnings in Urban Peru. Our approach to the concept of ethnicity involves the usage of instruments in many of its several dimensions: mother tongue, parental background, religion, migration events and race. In order to approximate what can be called racial differences in a context like the Peruvian in which "racial mixture" is the main characteristic of the population, we use a score-based procedure to capture both the differences and the mixtures. By means of this procedure each individual is assigned intensities by pollsters in each of the four categories that correspond to the most easily recognized distinct racial groups in the Peruvian society: Asiatic, White, Indigenous, and Black. We find that the multidimensional race indicator is correlated with several human capital and physical capital assets, as well as with access to public services. Using Blinder-Oaxaca (B-O) decompositions we find that a substantial part of the earnings differences between racial groups cannot be explainged by differences in individual characteristics. To take into account the fact that B-O doesn't consider the probability distribution of the individual characteristics, and specifically race in our case, we also use a semi-parametric technique for the estimation of differences in hourly earnings. This estimation treats the typical wage equations in a linear fashion but let estimators for the racial intensity effects to interact freely, without restricting them to a functional form. The results suggests that among wage earners after controlling for a large set of characteristics, there are racially related earnings differences in favor of predominantly White individuals. In the case of the self-employed, none of the empirical distributions of earning differences attributable to race is substantially above zero.race discrimination, minorities, wage differentials, semi-parametric