RT Generic
T1 Declining returns to skill and the distribution of wages : Spain 1995-2006
A1 Carrasco, Raquel
A1 Jimeno, Juan F.
A1 Ortega, Ana Carolina
A2 Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía, 
AB In contrast to the pattern observed in other developed countries, Spanish wage inequality did notincrease during the period from 1995-2006. In this paper we analyse the relative role of supply anddemand factors when accounting for this “atypical” fact. Because noticeable changes in both laboursupply and labour demand - such as educational upgrading of the labour force, huge immigrationflows, and a boom in the construction sector - took place during these years, we start bydecomposing observed wage changes into changes in the composition of the labour force andchanges in the prices of workers’ and jobs’ characteristics. The results indicate that the compressionof the wage distribution is largely explained by a decrease in the returns to education. We alsoprovide some evidence of the relative impact of labour supply and labour demand factors on thechanges of these returns, showing that both the increase in the supply of high-skilled workers and theincreasing weight of low-skilled occupations are related to the decreasing trend in the skill premiumover this period.
SN 2340-5031
YR 2012
FD 2012-11
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10016/15905
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10016/15905
LA eng
NO The first author aknowledges research funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Grant No. ECO2009-11165
DS e-Archivo
RD 4 may. 2024