Does Job Polarization Explain the Rise in Earnings Inequality? Evidence from Europe
Earnings inequality and job polarization have increased significantly in several countries since the early 1990s. Using data from European countries covering a 20-year period, this paper provides new evidence that the decline of middle-skilled occu...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/822791543242066700/Does-Job-Polarization-Explain-the-Rise-in-Earnings-Inequality-Evidence-from-Europe http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30879 |
| Summary: | Earnings inequality and job polarization
have increased significantly in several countries since the
early 1990s. Using data from European countries covering a
20-year period, this paper provides new evidence that the
decline of middle-skilled occupations and the simultaneous
increase of high- and low-skilled occupations are important
factors accounting for the rise of inequality, especially at
the bottom of the distribution. Job polarization accounts
for a large share of the increasing inequality between the
10th and the 50th percentiles, but it explains little or
none of the increasing inequality between the 50th and 90th
percentiles. Other important developments during this
period, such as changing wage returns, higher educational
attainment, and increased female labor force participation,
account for a small portion of the changes in inequality. |
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