Can the Introduction of a Minimum Wage in FYR Macedonia Decrease the Gender Wage Gap?

Angel-Urdinola, Diego F.

关键词: AGE GROUP;    ALTERNATIVE EMPLOYMENT;    AVERAGE WAGE;    COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT;    COMPETITIVE MARKET;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4795
RP-ID  :  WPS4795

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper relies on a simple frameworkto understand the gender wage gap in Macedonia, andsimulates how the gender wage gap would behave after theintroduction of a minimum wage. First, it presents a new -albeit simple - decomposition of the wage gap into threefactors: (i) a wage level factor, which measures the extentto which the gender gap is driven by differences in wagelevels among low-skilled workers of opposite sex; (ii) askills endowment factor, which quantifies the extent towhich the gender wage gap is driven by the difference in theshare of high-skilled workers by gender; and (iii) returnsto education, which measures the extent to which the gendergap is driven by differences by gender in returns toeducation. Second, the paper presents simple set ofsimulations that indicate that the introduction of a minimumwage in Macedonia could contribute to decrease the genderwage gap by up to 23 percent. Nevertheless, in order tosignificantly improve the wage gap, a rather high minimumwage may be required, which may contribute to reductions in employment.