Working toward Better Pay : Earning Dynamics in Ghana and Tanzania

Falco, Paolo ; Kerr, Andrew ; Paci, Pierella ; Rijkers, Bob

Washington, DC:World Bank

关键词: ARITHMETIC;    ATTRITION;    AVERAGE EARNING;    AVERAGE EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT;    CIVIL SERVICE;   

DOI  :  10.1596/978-1-4648-0207-2
RP-ID  :  88483

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Improving access to productiveemployment is a key policy challenge, especially inlow-income countries (LICs), where the only asset inabundance is labor. Building on ongoing research on earningsmobility, this study uses unusually rich longitudinal datafrom Ghana and Tanzania to identify engines of, and barriersto, earnings and earnings mobility. It examines the role ofindividual characteristics such as gender, age, and skillsand characteristics of the job, but it also focuses on therole of job switches for example, moves into and out ofself-employment. It zooms in particularly on the drivers oftransitions between low-paying and high-paying jobs, andaddresses questions such as whether being low paid is atransitory or permanent phenomenon, and whether it has ascarring effect on an individual's employmentprospects. The extent to which earnings dynamics differ forwomen and young adults is also discussed in detail. Thecross-country comparison of earnings dynamics and labormarket transitions helps shed light on the institutionalfactors that promote labor market mobility andentrepreneurship. The report is organized as follows:chapter one gives introduction. Chapter two presents a briefreview of related literature. Chapter three gives adescriptive overview of the labor markets in the twocountries. Chapter four examines the determinants ofearnings levels. Chapter five examines determinants ofearnings growth. Chapter six focuses on low-pay and high-paytransitions and analyzes whether the experience of being ina low-paying job undermines an individual's futureearnings prospects. Chapter seven discusses key policy implications.