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Declining Wages for College-Educated Workers in Mexico: Are Younger or Older Cohorts Hurt the Most?

Author

Listed:
  • Raymundo M. Campos-Vazquez

    (Centro de Estudios Economicos, El Colegio de Mexico)

  • Luis F. Lopez-Calva

    (Development Economics Vice Presidency, World Bank)

  • Nora Lustig

    (Department of Economics, Tulane University)

Abstract

Wage inequality has declined in Mexico since 2000. Using data from Mexican labor surveys for the period between 2000 and 2014, we investigate if the decline was driven by wages declining more sharply for younger or older workers. We find that wages of older workers declined and the decline was more pronounced in the older the cohort. This would seem to support the hypothesis that older workers' skills have become obsolete.

Suggested Citation

  • Raymundo M. Campos-Vazquez & Luis F. Lopez-Calva & Nora Lustig, 2015. "Declining Wages for College-Educated Workers in Mexico: Are Younger or Older Cohorts Hurt the Most?," Working Papers 1522, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tul:wpaper:1522
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Declining wages for college-educated workers in Mexico : are younger or older cohorts hurt the most ?
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2016-02-11 23:26:09

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    Cited by:

    1. Raymundo M. Campos-Vázquez & Nora Lustig & John Scott, 2018. "Inequality in Mexico: Labour markets and fiscal redistribution 1989-2014," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-188, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Adriana D. Kugler, 2019. "Impacts of Labor Market Institutions and Demographic Factors on Labor Markets in Latin America," IMF Working Papers 2019/155, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Alfonso Miranda & Maria Benitez-Banegas & Yahaira Rodriguez-Martinez, 2025. "Women's returns to education in Mexico: a revisit 30 years after," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 45(1), pages 11-17.
    4. Julian Messina & Joana Silva, 2018. "Wage Inequality in Latin America," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28682, April.
    5. Raymundo Campos-Vázquez & Nora Lustig & John Scott, 2018. "Inequality in Mexico: Labour markets and fiscal redistribution 1989–2014," WIDER Working Paper Series 188, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Yoshimichi Murakami & Tomokazu Nomura, 2023. "Decline in values of degrees and recent evolution of wage inequality: Evidence from Chile," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 50(1 Year 20), pages 55-132, June.
    7. Eréndira León Bravo, 2022. "Three essays on education, wages, and the labour market in Mexico," Economics PhD Theses 0322, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    8. Monroy-Gómez-Franco, Luis A., 2024. "The Economy in its Labyrinth: A Structuralist View of the Mexican Economy in the 21st Century," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 77(2), pages 181-206.
    9. Levasseur, Pierre, 2017. "The ambiguous causal relationship between body-mass and labour income in emerging economies: The case of Mexico," MPRA Paper 81933, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Paloma Villagómez-Ornelas & Luis Monroy-Gómez-Franco, 2021. "Economic Inequality meets Social Stratification: An Application of Stratification Economics to Mexico," Papers 2021_03, Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    education; college; cohort; inequality; Mexico;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • O54 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Latin America; Caribbean

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