e-journal

Earnings and education in Portugal, 1985-1991

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the distributions of earnings and education in
Portugal in the early years of European integration, 1985 and 1991, a period when Portugal experienced
strong nominal convergence following EU accession.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores the information provided by relative
distribution analysis and covariate (education) decomposition to study the dynamics of the earnings
distribution since these methodologies allow for the identification of polarization patterns that might
have occurred over the period. More standard methodological instruments are also used as a reference:
cardinal measures of inequality and the Lorenz stochastic dominance approach.
Findings – The median and average earnings of employees increased and there was also a rise in
earnings inequality. Relative to 1985, in 1991 there were more employees with very low earnings but
also more 1991 employees with high earnings and there were also more employees at the bottom
and top ends of the earnings distribution. The analysis of the relative earnings distribution by
level of education reveals substantial differences for the top end of the distributions with the
proportion of 1991 employees receiving the highest earnings higher than for the original 1985 cohort.
A regional disaggregation confirms that the overall employees’ earnings and education distributions
characteristics are determined by the behaviour of coastal regions, while in the non-coastal regions
a lower level of inequality is associated with lower levels of median and average earnings and
a different polarization pattern.
Originality/value – The paper shows that inequality is not a recent phenomenon in the Portuguese
economy and thus might be one of the sources of the growth slowdown Portugal is experiencing
since the turn of the century and might continue to hamper growth in the future deserving deeper
investigation.

Keywords Portugal, Covariate decomposition, Earnings inequality, Education inequality,Relative distribution

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Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

International Journal of Social Economics

No. Panggil

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Penerbit

: Emerald Group., 2014

Deskripsi Fisik

International Journal of Social Economics Vol. 41 No. 7, 2014 pp. 586-608

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

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Klasifikasi

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Tipe Isi

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Tipe Media

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Tipe Pembawa

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Edisi

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Subjek

PENDIDIKAN

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

Asmawati/Syahrial

Versi lain/terkait

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