The Distribution of Earnings in New Zealand
Summary
Changes in the distribution of individual earnings are examined in this paper, using previously unanalysed data from the Household Economic Survey. Published in the Labour Market Bulletin, Issue 1996:1.
The data indicate that the average real pre-tax weekly and hourly earnings of wage and salary earners declined between 1984 and 1994. Some demographic groups in the labour force (males, young people, and workers with university qualifications) experienced larger reductions in their average real earnings than others (females). The dispersion of weekly earnings across all wage and salary earners increased between 1984 and 1994, but there was little change in the dispersion of hourly earnings. Results obtained from a regression of log real hourly earnings on demographic characteristics point to a decline in the earnings deficit associated with being female, and some interesting shifts in the earnings premium associated with university qualifications.
Author: Sylvia Dixon
All publications in subject category: Wages, earnings and incomes
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- Change in the distribution of income of the working age population 1976-96
- Cyclical earnings variation and the composition of employment
- Do Minimum Wages have an Adverse Impact on Employment? Evidence from New Zealand
- Does the minimum wage reduce the employment prospects of unqualified New Zealand Women
- Does workplace-based industry training improve earnings?
- Employers’ Perspectives – Part Two: The Minimum Wage System
- Growth in the Dispersion of Earnings: 1984-97
- Money Wage Rigidity in New Zealand
- New Zealand Income Survey
- Pay inequality between Men and Women in New Zealand
- Returns to post-school qualifications: New evidence based on the HLFS Income Supplement (1997-2002)
- Some Notes on Determining Real Wage Movements
- The costs of involuntary job loss: Impacts on workers’ employment and earnings
- The impact of the 2008 youth minimum wage reform
- The Impact of Wage Subsidies on Jobseekers’ Outcomes and Firm Employment
- The Inter-Industry Wage Structure: 1971 - 1994
- Trends in Youth Activity in New Zealand from 1985-2004
- Understanding reductions in the gender wage differential 1997-2003
- Worker-Firm Heterogeneity and Matching: An analysis using worker and firm fixed effects estimated from LEED
- Youth Minimum Wage Reform and the Labour Market
All publications in series: 1996:1
- Job-loss and labour market outcomes under rapid structural adjustment: The case for New Zealand
- Labour Market Trends and Outlook - 1996
- Should New Zealand have a WIRS?
- The Distribution of Earnings in New Zealand
