Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Wage inequality in Spain - recent developments

Contents:

Author Info

Abstract

This paper analyses wage inequality in Spain from 1995 to 2002. Inequality has decreased slightly in this period although the fall has not been constant over the whole distribution. We use non-parametric techniques to distinguish the effect on inequality of changes in the composition of the labour force and changes in relative returns. We focus mainly on three factors that have varied substantially between 1995 and 2002 - female participation, educational attainment and changes in the tenure level. On one hand, changes in the composition of the labour force would have increased inequality had the structure of wages not changed in relation to the 1995 level. Changes in education and especially tenure would have been responsible for most of the higher dispersion. On the other, changes in relative returns between 1995 and 2002 are predominant and are responsible for the lower dispersion observed in the latter year. Changes in the returns to education are the main important factor underlying this decrease in inequality. JEL Classification: J30, J00.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/scpwps/ecbwp781.pdf
Download Restriction: no

Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by European Central Bank in its series Working Paper Series with number 781.

as in new window
Length: 40 pages
Date of creation: Jul 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20070781

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Postfach 16 03 19, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Phone: +49 69 1344 0
Fax: +49 69 1344 6000
Web page: http://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/html/index.en.html
More information through EDIRC

Order Information:
Postal: Press and Information Division, European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Email:

Related research

Keywords: Inequality; wage distribution; labour force composition.;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. S. Fabiani & M. Druant & I. Hernando & C. Kwapil & B. Landau & C. Loupias & Fernando Martins & T. Mathä & R. Sabbatini & H. Stahl & A. Stokman, 2005. "The Pricing Behaviour of Firms in the Euro Area: New Survey Evidence," Working Papers w200510, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
  2. Campa, José Manuel & Goldberg, Linda S & González Mìnguez, Jose Manuel, 2005. "Exchange Rate Pass-Through to Import Prices in the Euro Area," CEPR Discussion Papers 5347, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  3. Galindo, Arturo & Izquierdo, Alejandro & Montero, Jose Manuel, 2007. "Real exchange rates, dollarization and industrial employment in Latin America," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 284-298, December.
  4. Álvarez, L. & Dias, D. & Dhyne, E. & Hoffmann, J. & Jonker, N. & Le Bihan, H. & Lünnemann, P. & Rumler, F. & Veronese, G. & Vilmunen, J., 2005. "Price Setting in the Euro Area: Some Stylized Facts from Individual Consumer Price Data," Working papers 136, Banque de France.
  5. Pereira, Pedro T. & Martins, Pedro S., 2000. "Does Education Reduce Wage Inequality? Quantile Regressions Evidence from Fifteen European Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 120, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  6. Luis J. Álvarez & Pablo Burriel & Ignacio Hernando, 2005. "Price setting behaviour in Spain: evidence from micro PPI data," Working Paper Series 522, European Central Bank.
  7. Card, David & de la Rica, Sara, 2004. "The Effect of Firm-Level Contracts on the Structure of Wages: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data," IZA Discussion Papers 1421, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  8. Llorens, Vanessa & De la Rica Goiricelaya, Sara & Dolado, Juan J., 2004. "Ceilings and Floors? Gender Wage Gaps by Education in Spain," DFAEII Working Papers 2005-01, University of the Basque Country - Department of Foundations of Economic Analysis II.
  9. Angel López-Nicolás & Jaume García & Pedro J. Hernández, 2001. "How wide is the gap? An investigation of gender wage differences using quantile regression," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 149-167.
  10. Luis J. Álvarez & Ignacio Hernando, 2005. "The price setting behaviour of Spanish firms: evidence from survey data," Banco de España Working Papers 0537, Banco de España.
  11. Thomas Lemieux, 2006. "Postsecondary Education and Increasing Wage Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 195-199, May.
  12. J. Ignacio García-Pérez & Juan F. Jimeno, 2006. "Public sector wage gaps in Spanish regions," Working Papers 06.10, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
  13. Casey B. Mulligan & Yona Rubinstein, 2004. "The Closing of the Gender Gap as a Roy Model Illusion," NBER Working Papers 10892, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  14. Dolado, Juan José & Felgueroso, Florentino & Jimeno, Juan F., . "Recent trends in occupational segregation by gender: a look across the Atlantic," Open Access publications from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid info:hdl:10016/272, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
  15. David Card & John E. DiNardo, 2002. "Skill-Biased Technological Change and Rising Wage Inequality: Some Problems and Puzzles," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(4), pages 733-783, October.
  16. Daron Acemoglu, 2000. "Technical Change, Inequality, and the Labor Market," NBER Working Papers 7800, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  17. Thomas Lemieux, 2006. "Increasing Residual Wage Inequality: Composition Effects, Noisy Data, or Rising Demand for Skill?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 461-498, June.
  18. Martins, Pedro S. & Pereira, Pedro T., 2004. "Does education reduce wage inequality? Quantile regression evidence from 16 countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 355-371, June.
  19. Katz, Lawrence F. & Autor, David H., 1999. "Changes in the wage structure and earnings inequality," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 26, pages 1463-1555 Elsevier.
  20. Javier Gardeazabal & Arantza Ugidos, 2005. "Gender wage discrimination at quantiles," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 165-179, 07.
  21. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-42, June.
  22. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Sara De la Rica, 2006. "The Role of Segregation and Pay Structure on the Gender Wage Gap: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data for Spain," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 0(1), pages 10.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Blog mentions

As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. ¿Vale la pena estudiar? (VI) La inusual caída de la ganancia salarial resultante de la educación avanzada
    by Luis Garicano in Nada Es Gratis on 2010-12-08 23:30:40
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
as in new window

Cited by:
  1. Gernandt, Johannes & Pfeiffer, Friedhelm, 2006. "Rising Wage Inequality in Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-19, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
  2. Rebekka Christopoulou & Theodora Kosma, 2009. "Skills and Wage Inequality in Greece: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data, 1995-2002," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 26, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
  3. Fernández-Kranz, Daniel & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2011. "The part-time pay penalty in a segmented labor market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 591-606, October.
  4. Raquel Carrasco & Juan F. Jimeno & Ana Carolina Ortega, 2008. "The impact of immigration on the wage structure : Spain 1995-2002," Economics Working Papers we080603, Universidad Carlos III, Departamento de Economía.
  5. Mauricio Zunino, 2012. "Impactos de la reinstauración de los Consejos de Salarios sobre la distribución salarial en Uruguay," Económica, Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, vol. 0, pages 129-167, January-D.
  6. Aitor Lacuesta & Sergio Puente & Pilar Cuadrado, 2009. "Omitted variables in the measure of a labour quality index: the case of Spain," Banco de España Working Papers 0835, Banco de España.
  7. Aitor Lacuesta & Mario Izquierdo, 2012. "The contribution of changes in employment composition and relative returns to the evolution of wage inequality: the case of Spain," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 511-543, January.
  8. Manuel Hidalgo, 2009. "Are Within-Groups `Abilities' Distribution Constant on Time?," Working Papers 09.15, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
  9. Raquel Carrasco & Juan F. Jimeno & A. Carolina Ortega, 2011. "Accounting for changes in the Spanish wage distribution: the role of employment Composition effects," Banco de España Working Papers 1120, Banco de España.
  10. Ismael Ahamdanech & Carmelo García-Pérez & Hipolito Simon, 2011. "Wage inequality in Spain: A regional perspective," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1074, European Regional Science Association.
  11. Cristina Barceló & Ernesto Villanueva, 2010. "The response of household wealth to the risk of losing the job: evidence from differences in firing costs," Banco de España Working Papers 1002, Banco de España.
  12. Hipólito Simón, 2009. "La desigualdad salarial en España: Una perspectiva internacional y temporal," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 33(3), pages 439-471, September.
  13. Clara I. Gonzalez & José Ignacio Conde Ruiz & Michele Boldrin, 2009. "Immigration and Social Security in Spain," Working Papers 2009-26, FEDEA.
  14. Manuel A. Hidalgo, 2008. "Wage Inequality in Spain, 1980-2000," Working Papers 08.08, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20070781

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Official Publications).

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.