Abstract

RODRIGUEZ PEREZ, Reyna Elizabeth; CASTRO LUGO, David  and  MENDOZA LOPEZ, Montserrat. Wage inequality and informal work in Mexico’s regions. Región y sociedad [online]. 2019, vol.31, e1062. ISSN 2448-4849.  https://doi.org/10.22198/rys2019/31/1062.

This article’s purpose is to analyze wage inequality in the formal and informal labor market in Mexico’s regions on the basis of the extent of exposure to the trade openness for the period 2005-2016. Data from the National Occupation and Employment Survey, the Theil inequality index and the methodology proposed by DiNardo, Fortin and Lemieux are used. The results reveal that regions show inequalities, which are smaller in those with a greater exposure to trade openness, and that during the period of study inequality decreased in all regions, but intra-group disparities increased. The main contribution is the analysis of wage inequality considering a regionalization based on the extent of exposure to trade openness, as well as the comparison between formal and informal workers. One of the limitations is the exclusion of the observations not registered, which can potentially modify the results.

Keywords : wage inequality; labor relations; informal employment; labor market; salary gap; economic development; regional imbalance.