Employment Structure, Informality and Labour Income. A Comparative Study of Germany, Spain, Poland and Argentina

This chapter presents a comparative analysis of the impact of the sectoral structure of employment on the distribution of labor income in Germany, Spain, Poland, and Argentina during 2023. It is assumed that hourly wages in each country depend not only on the productive development of its economy but also on the occupational structure, the level of labor market segmentation, and the precariousness of employment. Based on this, the study seeks to identify: (1) How different national productive structures organize sectoral labor participation—both salaried and non-salaried—according to the degree of complexity and integration of firms, and how they influence legal labor protections; and (2) How these mechanisms affect current hourly labor income received by workers in each country, regardless of individual factors such as qualification, age, or gender. The central thesis is that the sectoral placement of the labor force, the quality of employment, and income gaps within each labor market are primarily the result of differences in the productive development of each economy and its level of internal integration. However, this effect is also shaped by how state labor institutions intervene in labor relations—both salaried and non-salaried—at both public and private levels. The study provides relevant findings for the design of public policies, highlighting the importance of differentiated strategies to improve equity in the distribution of labor income and to reduce the negative effects of segmentation and informality across different economic contexts.