Discriminación salarial en Uruguay (1991-1997)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is study the evolution, during the nineties, of the wage differential between men and women, and in particular the labor market discrimination. We try to analyze if in a frame of increasing openness to international trade, decreasing inflation, wage negotiation decentralization and increasing wage inequality, the labor market discrimination against women has experimented any change. We estimate the total wage differential and decompose it in three components: I) men advantage or overpayment due to the existence of discrimination (favoritism), ii) women disadvantage (pure discrimination) and iii) differences due to different human capital levels and labor insertion. It is observed that the wage gap between men and women diminished. Although the three factors go in the same way to improve women condition in the labor market, it is the differences due to different human capital levels and labor insertion the main factor that contributed to narrow the wage gap during the period of study (1991–1997).