Author: Harold AldermanPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 48
Book Description
The paper examines the structure of urban labor markets in Pakistan, focusing in particular on wage formation and returns to education for male workers. Empirical work is based on a survey of 1,000 low income urban households administered in 1986 by the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics. The report identifies three segments of the labor market : the self employed, wage workers in the informal sector, and wage workers in the formal sector, 85 percent of whom are government workers. The study finds that the difference in average wages between the formal and informal sector is primarily caused by differences in skills, although there is an apprecialble premium on wages in the formal sector, particularly for college educated men. In addition, the report identifies two categories of economically inactive individuals : young and more educated men waiting to find jobs in the formal sector and older, less qualified men who tend to live in wealthier extended families receiving substantial remittances from within Pakistan and abroad. To be effective, employment policy must address the very different kinds of constraints faced by individuals in each of the categories.
