Changes in the Thai Wage Structure Before and after the 1997 Economic Crisis

Abstract:     
Wage polarisation is observed in Thailand over 1987-2006. I attribute much of the increase in top-end inequality to trend-demand shift favouring college-educated workers resulting from SBTC. The rise in low-end wage rates relative to the median is due to the existence of a large pool of hidden-unemployed labourers in the rural sector. Their migration into low-end city jobs could explain the rising low-end wages. A recent version of the SBTC hypothesis that emphasises the effects of technological advances offers an alternative explanation. There is also evidence that the "massifcation of higher-education" is a major source of rising top-end residual inequality.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 28

Keywords: wage inequality, residual inequality, educational wage distribution, returns to education

JEL Classification: I21, J24, J31

working papers series