Decomposing the labor market earnings inequality: the public and private sectors in Vietnam, 1993-2006, Vol. 1 of 1

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Decomposing the labor market earnings inequality: the public and private sectors in Vietnam, 1993-2006

Author:	Imbert, Clement;	Collection Title:	Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 6344
Country:	Vietnam;	Date Stored:	2013/01/30
Document Date:	2013/01/01	Document Type:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English	Region:	East Asia and Pacific
Report Number:	WPS6344	SubTopics:	Government Procurement; Inequality; Labor Markets; Public Sector Management and Reform; Public Sector Economics
Volume No:	1 of 1

Summary: In contrast with the typical transition to a market economy, earnings inequality in Vietnam between 1993 and 2006 appears to have decreased, and the earnings gap in favor of public employees appears to have widened. The paper uses a comparative advantage model to disentangle the effect of sorting workers across sectors from the effect of the differences in returns to workers' skills. The selection of the best workers into the public sector is clearly an important component of the explanation for the public-private sector earnings gap, but the widening of this gap over time is primarily due to changes in the compensation patterns. The paper finds that, in the 1990s, public employees were underpaid compared with their earning potential in the private sector whereas, in the early 2000s, public employees earned similar returns to their comparative advantage in the public and private sectors. The increasing homogeneity in returns to skills in the Vietnamese labor market appears to explain both the increase in the public-private pay gap and the decrease in overall inequality.


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