New Century, Old Disparities by Hugo Ñopo

Author:Hugo Ñopo [Ñopo, Hugo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8213-8686-6
Publisher: The World Bank
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Source: Based on data from 1994–2006 household surveys conducted by the Colombian National Statistical Agency.

Note: *p < 0.1, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01. † indicates that the earnings differences between men and women are statistically different at the 99 percent level in all three periods.

Regarding education, men earn more than women in all education categories in all three periods. Individuals living in households with children younger than six tend to earn less than individuals living in households with no children. This difference remained constant over the period of analysis. The presence of other income earners in the household does not seem to play an important role in earnings differentials.

Married people earn more than unmarried people. Never–married people earn almost the same as people who live together, but people living together outside of a formal marriage persistently earn the lowest earning. Gender earnings gaps are more pronounced among people cohabiting than among people who never married. The largest earnings gaps are among people who are widowed, divorced, or separated.

Not surprisingly, in the private sector, employers earn much more than employees, who earn more than the self-employed, who earn more than domestic servants. An unexpected result is that public employees are at the top of average earnings by type of employment. Part-time workers (people who work less than 35 hours a week) earn much more per hour than people working full time, who in turn earn more per hour than people working overtime (more than 48 hours a week). Informal workers earn less than their formal counterparts, and people working at small firms (five workers or less) earn less than people working at larger firms. Services (business and social) and construction are among the highest-paid economic sectors, especially for women. At the other extreme, household and personal services was the lowest-paid sector during the whole period of analysis, for both men and women. White-collar workers earn more than blue-collar workers.

Table 8.2 describes the differences in observable characteristics between men and women for the three periods under study. Working men are slightly older than working women. However, both women and men are staying longer in the labor market, creating an older labor force, especially for women. The percentage of workers with secondary and tertiary education increased in each subperiod.

Although the majority of working men live in households with children six or under, the prevalence of children decreased over the period of study, and gender differences narrowed. In line with the findings by Amador and Bernal (2009), important changes took place in patterns of family formation and dissolution in Colombia, similar to changes that have occurred in the rest of the region. The percentages of cohabiting people increased for men and women (although cohabitation is more common among men). About two out of three men and less than half of working women in Colombia are married (either formally or informally).

Table 8.2 Demographic and Job Characteristics of Men and Women in Colombia’s Labor Force, 1994–2006

(percent)

Characteristics 1994–98 2000–01 2002–06

Women Men Women Men Women Men

Real hourly

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.