Are Skills Rewarded in Sub-Saharan Africa? Determinants of Wages and Productivity in the Manufacturing Sector

Using recent matched employer-employee data from the manufacturing sector in 20 Sub-Saharan African countries, the authors analyze how the supply of skills and legal origin of the country affect the wage setting process. The wage analysis yields three main findings. First, increasing returns to education, especially for older workers, suggest that the expansion of education in Africa has reduced returns to education for entrants in the labor market. Second, age effects matter not just for returns to education, but also for the wage setting process more generally. In particular, in civil-law countries, returns to seniority are rewarded only after a certain age. Third, workers exercise some power in the wage setting process but their influence varies by linguistic group. In common-law countries, union presence benefits all workers equally, not just members, whereas in civil-law countries, only older members enjoy higher wages. The authors also contrast wage premia with relative marginal productivities for different age, occupation, and education categories. The findings show that in general, older, highly educated, and highly ranked workers receive wage premia that do not reflect a higher relative marginal productivity.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Fox, Louise, Oviedo, Ana Maria
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2008-08
Subjects:	ACCESS TO CREDIT, ACCESS TO EDUCATION, ACCOUNTING, ACCURATE ESTIMATES, AGE CATEGORIES, AGE GROUP, AGE GROUPS, AGE-EARNINGS, AGE-EARNINGS PROFILES, ANNUAL LABOR COST, ANNUAL WAGE, ANNUAL WAGES, ASSESSING LABOR MARKET, AVERAGE EDUCATION LEVEL, BANKRUPTCY, BARGAINING, BARGAINING POWER, BRAIN DRAIN, CALCULATION, CALCULATIONS, CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT, CONTRIBUTION, COST OF LABOR, COST OF LIVING, COUNTRY COMPARISONS, CURRENCY UNITS, EARLY RETIREMENT, EARNINGS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC GROWTH, ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT, EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT, EDUCATIONAL DISTRIBUTION, EFFICIENCY WAGES, EMPLOYEE, EMPLOYMENT, EMPLOYMENT GROWTH, EXCHANGE RATE, EXCHANGE RATES, FEMALE WORKER, FEMALE WORKERS, FIRING COSTS, FIRM LEVEL, FIRM PERFORMANCE, FIRM SIZE, FIRM SURVEY, FIRM SURVEYS, FOREIGN INVESTMENT, FOREIGN OWNERSHIP, FOREIGN WORKERS, HIGH WAGE, HOUSEHOLD SURVEY, HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS, HUMAN CAPITAL, HUMAN RESOURCES, INCOME, INDUSTRY WAGE, INVESTMENT CLIMATE, JOB SECURITY, LABOR COSTS, LABOR ECONOMICS, LABOR FORCE, LABOR MANAGEMENT, LABOR MARKET, LABOR MARKET CONDITIONS, LABOR MARKET OUTCOMES, LABOR MARKET POLICY, LABOR MARKET RIGIDITY, LABOR MARKETS, LABOR REGULATION, LABOR REGULATIONS, LABOR RELATIONS, LABOR SUPPLY, LABOUR, LABOUR STATISTICS, LARGE FIRM, LARGE FIRMS, LATIN AMERICAN, LEATHER INDUSTRY, LIVING COSTS, LOCAL CURRENCY, MIDDLE EAST, MINIMUM WAGES, MOTIVATION, NOMINAL WAGES, NORTH AFRICA, OCCUPATION, OCCUPATIONS, OLDER WORKERS, PAID WORKERS, PERMANENT WORKERS, POLITICAL ECONOMY, PREVIOUS SECTION, PRIMARY EDUCATION, PRIVATE SECTOR, PRODUCT MARKET, PRODUCTION FUNCTION, PRODUCTION WORKER, PRODUCTION WORKERS, PRODUCTIVITIES, PRODUCTIVITY, PRODUCTIVITY LEVEL, PUBLIC PENSIONS, PUBLIC SERVICE, QUESTIONNAIRE, RATES OF RETURN, REGRESSION ANALYSIS, RENTS, SALARIES, SALES, SECONDARY EDUCATION, SECONDARY SCHOOL, SENIOR, SEVERANCE PAY, SEVERANCE PAYMENTS, SKILL SHORTAGE, SKILL SHORTAGES, SKILLED LABOR, STOCKS, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, TAXATION, TEACHERS, TEMPORARY WORKERS, TOTAL EMPLOYMENT, TOTAL WORKER, TRADE UNION, UNION DENSITY, UNION MEMBERSHIP, UNION MEMBERSHIP RATES, UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION, UNSKILLED WORKER, UNSKILLED WORKERS, VALUABLE, VOCATIONAL TRAINING, WAGE BILL, WAGE DETERMINATION, WAGE EFFECT, WAGE GAPS, WAGE INCREASE, WAGE PREMIUM, WAGE STRUCTURE, WORKER, WORTH, YOUNG WORKERS, YOUNGER WORKERS,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/08/9755051/skills-rewarded-sub-saharan-africa-determinants-wages-productivity-manufacturing-sector http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6811
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