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Inequality and occupational change in times of Revolution: the Tunisian perspective

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  • Mohamed Ali Marouani

    (DEVSOC - UMR Développement et Sociétés - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement)

  • Phong Le Minh

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the evolution of employment and earnings distributions before and after the Tunisian Revolution, focusing on the impact of public wage and employment policy changes. A recentered-influence function (RIF) decomposition is performed to decompose the change in earnings in wage structure and composition effects and to assess the contribution of various determinants of inequality. We find that earnings inequality decreases significantly during the period of investigation in Tunisia, mainly due to the decreases in public–private wage gap and sector wage gap on the demand side and the decreasing education premia on the supply side. The increase in marginal returns to low wage and average routine-task intensity jobs, the falling return to experience, and the decreasing regional wage gap were partly responsible for the decline in overall earnings inequality.
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Suggested Citation

  • Mohamed Ali Marouani & Phong Le Minh, 2021. "Inequality and occupational change in times of Revolution: the Tunisian perspective," Working Papers hal-04000997, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-04000997
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets

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