Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/148384 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
ZEW Discussion Papers No. 16-085
Publisher: 
Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW), Mannheim
Abstract: 
In developing countries, a large share of employees work informally and are not covered by employment protection legislation. I study here how gender wage inequality differs across formal and informal jobs in Brazil. The raw gender wage gap is higher in informal jobs (13%) compared to formal jobs (5%), but I show that this difference is an artefact of different male and female selection processes. First, women have better observable characteristics than men and the female advantage is stronger among formal employees. Second, men and women entering formal and informal jobs have different unobservable characteristics. Controlling for endogenous selection into formal vs. informal jobs, I find that the gender gap in wage offers is high and increases with education in formal jobs. In informal jobs, however, estimated wage offers are the same for men and women. I discuss the potential implications of these findings regarding the effect of labour market regulation on gender wage gaps.
Subjects: 
gender wage gaps
informality
selection into work statuses
Brazil
JEL: 
J31
O17
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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