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After the reforms: Determinants of wage growth and change in wage inequality in Vietnam: 1998-2008

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  • Sakellariou, Chris
  • Fang, Zheng

Abstract

The Vietnam ―renovation‖ reforms were implemented during the 1990s, but their full effect was only felt many years later. We present evidence on the developments in real wage growth and inequality in Vietnam from 1998 to 2008. For men, wage growth was underpinned by both increases in endowments of productive characteristics (mainly education) as well as changes in the wage structure (mainly associated with experience) and residual changes. For women, the wage structure effect was the main contributor to wage growth and the most important determinant was the change in the pattern of the returns to experience: younger, less experienced workers enjoyed a premium compared to more experience workers, reversing the previous, opposite pattern. Conventional measures of inequality as well as background analysis show that wage inequality decreased sharply through the 1990s until 2006, but increased subsequently. Over the entire 10-year period, wage inequality increased slightly and more so for women.

Suggested Citation

  • Sakellariou, Chris & Fang, Zheng, 2010. "After the reforms: Determinants of wage growth and change in wage inequality in Vietnam: 1998-2008," MPRA Paper 27518, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:27518
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    Cited by:

    1. Phan, Diep & Coxhead, Ian, 2013. "Long-run costs of piecemeal reform: Wage inequality and returns to education in Vietnam," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 1106-1122.
    2. Doan, Tinh & Ha, Van & Tran, Tuyen & Yang, Judy, 2023. "Dynamics of wage inequality over the prolonged economic transformation: The case of Vietnam," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 816-834.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage inequality; counterfactual decompositions; Asia; Vietnam;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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