Labor Informality: Choice or Sign of Segmentation? A Quantile Regression Approach at the Regional Level for Colombia

Serie

  • MPRA Paper

Resumen

  • The labor market in developing countries is remarkably heterogeneous with a small productive formal sector, enjoying high wages and attractive employment conditions and another large informal sector with low productivity and volatile wages. The informal sector is particularly diverse. In this paper we examine the heterogeneity of the informal sector at regional level in Colombia. In general, our findings suggest that, both voluntary and involuntary informal employment co-exist by choice and as a result of labor market segmentation. We also find that there are striking differences in labor market characteristics between cities, in particular in the traditional informal segment.

fecha de publicación

  • 2014-04

Líneas de investigación

  • Formal
  • Informal Wage Gap
  • Informality
  • Local Labor Markets
  • Quantile Regression
  • Selection Bias

Issue

  • 55224