The Distribution of Wages in Poland, 1992-2002
32 Pages Posted: 21 Feb 2005
Date Written: February 2005
Abstract
This paper analyses the changes in the size distribution of wages in Poland over a decade of transition. Until about 1998 there were some forces tending to increase wage inequality and other forces contracting it. The result was a relatively constant level of inequality. Privatisation was the main force tending to increase wage inequality, partly because it generated major increases in the relative wages of professional and managerial workers. We demonstrate how private firms tend to pay less at the bottom end of the wage distribution and more at the top end. The main force contracting the variance of wages was the decline, between 1992 and 1998 in labour market participation of those with low levels of education. Wage inequality seems to have increased since 2000. Suggestively, whereas privatisation has continued, the decline in participation has halted.
Keywords: wages, Poland
JEL Classification: J31, P23
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
Returns to Human Capital Under the Communist Wage Grid and During the Transition to a Market Economy
By Katherine Terrell, Daniel Munich, ...
-
The Gender Pay Gap in the Transition from Communism: Some Empirical Evidence
By Andrew Newell and Barry Reilly
-
The Gender Wage Gap and Wage Arrears in Russia: Evidence from the RLMS
By Christopher J. Gerry, Carmen A. Li, ...
-
How Estonia's Economic Transition Affected Employment and Wages (1989-95)
By Rivo Noorkôiv, Peter F. Orazem, ...
-
By Peter F. Orazem and Milan Vodopivec
-
By Dean Jolliffe and Nauro F. Campos