Regional Disparities in Labor Market Performance in Croatia : The Role of Individual and Regional Structural Characteristics

Luo, Xubei

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ADMINISTRATIVE DATA;    AGE GROUP;    AGE GROUPS;    AVERAGE LEVEL;    BASIC EDUCATION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4148
RP-ID  :  WPS4148

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The labor market performance in Croatiafailed to keep pace with the moderately good overallmacroeconomic development in the past few years. Youth, theless well-educated, and women face more difficulties ingetting a job with a decent salary. A large part of thedifference in regional labor market performance isassociated with the difference in the human capitalendowment. With a stagnant total employment rate, the largedisparities in employment and earnings across individualgroups and regions have become one of the concerns for thelong-term sustainable development of the economy. UsingLabor Force Survey (LFS) data from 2002-04, this paperstudies the labor market performance in Croatia at thenational and regional levels. The results show that bothone's individual characteristics (including age,education and gender) and where he or she works plays a rolein his or her employment and earnings. Regional differencesin employment and earnings are reduced to a large extentwhen accounting for differences in individualcharacteristics. The simulations shed light on theeffectiveness of the nationwide education policy andregional specific labor market policy, and suggest thatimproving human capital endowment and adjusting labor marketstructure are both important to rebalance regionaldevelopment and enhance total welfare.