Is there an informal employment wage penalty in Egypt

Arbeitspapier

This paper considers the private sector wage earners in Egypt and examine their wage distribution during 1998-2012 using Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey. We first estimate Mincer wage equations both at the mean and at different quantiles of the wage distribution taking into account observable characteristics. Then we make use of the panel feature of the data and estimate models taking into account unobservable characteristics. We also consider the possibility of nonlinearity in covariate effects and estimate a variant of matching models. In all cases we find a persistent informal wage penalty in the face of extensive sensitivity checks. It is smaller when unobserved heterogeneity is taken into account and larger at the top than at the bottom of the conditional wage distribution. We also examine the informal wage penalty over time during the study period and in different groups according to experience and education. The informal wage penalty has increased recently over time and is larger for the better educated but smaller for the more experienced.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Paper ; No. 1519

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure ; Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials ; Particular Labor Markets: General ; Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
• Subject: Formal and informal wage gap ; Formal and informal employment ; Panel data ; Egypt

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Tansel, Aysit ; Keskin, Halil Ibrahim ; Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Koç University-TÜSİAD Economic Research Forum (ERF)
• (where): Istanbul
• (when): 2015

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/129357
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET