Who Suffers the Penalty? A Panel Data Analysis of Earnings Gaps in Vietnam
47 Pages Posted: 26 Jan 2013
Abstract
In spite of its predominant economic weight in developing countries, little is known about the informal sector earnings structure compared to that of the formal sector. Taking advantage of the VHLSS dataset in Vietnam, in particular its three wave panel data (2002, 2004, 2006), we assess the magnitude of various formal-informal earnings gaps while addressing heterogeneity at three different levels: the worker, the job (wage employment vs. self-employment) and the earnings distribution. We estimate fixed effects and quantile regressions to control for unobserved individual characteristics. Our results suggest that the informal sector earnings gap highly depends on the workers' job status and on their relative position in the earnings distribution. Penalties may in some cases turn into premiums. By comparing our results with studies in other developing countries, we draw conclusions highlighting the Vietnam's labour market specificity.
Keywords: informal employment, earnings gap, transition matrix, panel data, Vietnam
JEL Classification: J21, J23, J24, J31, O17
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
Mobility in the Urban Labor Market: A Panel Data Analysis for Mexico
By Xiaodong Gong, Arthur van Soest, ...
-
Mobility in the Urban Labor Market: A Panel Data Analysis for Mexico
By Xiaodong Gong, Arthur van Soest, ...
-
Enforcement of Regulation, Informal Labor and Firm Performance
-
Wage Differentials and Mobility in the Urban Labor Market: A Panel Data Analysis for Mexico
By Xiaodong Gong and Arthur van Soest
-
By Tito Boeri and Pietro Garibaldi
-
Enforcement of Labor Regulation, Informal Labor, and Firm Performance
-
By Aureo De Paula and José A. Scheinkman
-
By Aureo De Paula and José A. Scheinkman
-
Shadow Activity and Unemployment in a Depressed Labour Market
By Tito Boeri and Pietro Garibaldi
-
By Pablo Fajnzylber, William F. Maloney, ...