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Wage Inequality in Russia (1994–2003)

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  • Lukiyanova Anna

Abstract

The paper documents the changes in the size of the wage distribution in Russia over the period 1994–2003. Developments in wage inequality varied a lot by sub-periods: overall wage inequality stayed stable in 1994–1996, then it jumped following the 1998 crisis and remained at higher levels for three years. In 2002 the trend reversed again and in the course of a single year wage inequality fell back to the level of the mid-1990s. We find that evolution wage inequality was largely driven by changes in the upper end of the wage distribution. Decomposition of wage inequality by population sub-groups shows that inequality has been higher for men, younger and low-educated workers, and rural inhabitants. The structure of inequality did not change much over the period from 1994 to 2003. Demographic variables (mainly gender and region) explain the largest proportion of wage dispersion (over 40% of the explained variation and 15% of total variation). Nearly equivalent is the contribution of firm characteristics with industry affiliation of employer playing the leading role. Our results show that returns to education continued to rise at all percentiles of the wage distribution converging at the level of about 8–9% of wage increase for an additional year of schooling.

Suggested Citation

  • Lukiyanova Anna, 2006. "Wage Inequality in Russia (1994–2003)," EERC Working Paper Series 06-03e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS.
    • Handle: RePEc:eer:wpalle:06-03e
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Tullio Buccellato & Tomasz Mickiewicz, 2009. "Oil and Gas: A Blessing for the Few. Hydrocarbons and Inequality within Regions in Russia," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 61(3), pages 385-407.
    2. Chris Sakellariou, 2012. "Unconditional quantile regressions, wage growth and inequality in the Philippines, 2001--2006: the contribution of covariates," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(29), pages 3815-3830, October.
    3. Gustafsson, Björn & Li, Shi & Nivorozhkina, Ludmila & Wan, Haiyuan, 2015. "Yuan and Roubles: Comparing wage determination in urban China and Russia at the beginning of the new millennium," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 248-265.
    4. Tullio Buccellato & Tomasz Marek Mickiewicz, 2007. "Oil and gas: a blessing for few hydrocarbons and within-region inequality in Russia," UCL SSEES Economics and Business working paper series 80, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), revised Feb 2008.
    5. Zhao Chen & Ming Lu & Guanghua Wan, 2010. "Inter-Industry Wage Differentials: An Increasingly Important Contributor to Urban China Income Inequality," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd09-130, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    6. Mr. Martin Schindler & Ms. Mariya Aleksynska, 2011. "Labor Market Regulations in Low-, Middle- and High-Income Countries: A New Panel Database," IMF Working Papers 2011/154, International Monetary Fund.
    7. Chris SAKELLARIOU, 2009. "Changing Wage Distributions and the Evolution of Wage Inequality in Indonesia:1994 – 2007," Economic Growth Centre Working Paper Series 0906, Nanyang Technological University, School of Social Sciences, Economic Growth Centre.
    8. Zhao Chen & Ming Lu & Hiroshi Sato, 2009. "Social Networks and Labor Market Entry Barriers: Understanding Inter-industrial Wage Differentials in Urban China," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd09-084, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Russia; wage inequality; decomposition; quantile regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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