Inequality of Opportunities in the Labor Market : Evidence from Life in Transition Surveys in Europe and Central Asia

This paper attempts to quantify the degree of inequality of opportunity in labor market outcomes for a selection of countries in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. We adapt the Human Opportunity Index (HOI) methodology that has been widely used to study opportunities of children to measures o...

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Main Authors:	Abras, Ana, Hoyos, Alejandro, Narayan, Ambar, Tiwari, Sailesh
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2013
Subjects:	Labor Labor law Gender Inequality Fairness Jobs
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12134

id	okr-10986-12134
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-121342021-04-23T14:02:59Z Inequality of Opportunities in the Labor Market : Evidence from Life in Transition Surveys in Europe and Central Asia Abras, Ana Hoyos, Alejandro Narayan, Ambar Tiwari, Sailesh Labor Labor law Gender Inequality Fairness Jobs This paper attempts to quantify the degree of inequality of opportunity in labor market outcomes for a selection of countries in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. We adapt the Human Opportunity Index (HOI) methodology that has been widely used to study opportunities of children to measures of inequality in the labor market for working age adults, using data from the Life in Transition Surveys (LiTS) conducted in 2006. We decompose the observed inequalities into components that are attributable to circumstances an individual was born into (e.g., gender, parents’ education, minority status, etc) and other characteristics (education and age). We conduct additional exercises with this measure, which examine: (i) comparisons with an expenditure-based measure of inequality of opportunity; (ii) the extent to which the measures of inequality resonate with individual perceptions of life satisfaction and fairness; and (iii) how the results for ECA countries compare with similar measures in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region. Our findings show substantial inequality of opportunity (attributable to circumstances that an individual was born into) in employment status in the ECA region and a high degree of heterogeneity across countries in the circumstances that matter the most for inequality. The correlations between measures and perceptions of inequality among citizens across ECA countries suggest that inequality between groups, including measures of inequality of opportunity, matter more than overall measures of inequality for citizen perceptions of "fairness". The results are robust to different definitions of jobs as opportunities. 2013-01-18T17:01:36Z 2013-01-18T17:01:36Z 2012-10 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12134 en_US Background Paper for the World Development Report 2013; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Working Paper Publications & Research Europe and Central Asia Europe and Central Asia
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	Labor Labor law Gender Inequality Fairness Jobs
spellingShingle	Labor Labor law Gender Inequality Fairness Jobs Abras, Ana Hoyos, Alejandro Narayan, Ambar Tiwari, Sailesh Inequality of Opportunities in the Labor Market : Evidence from Life in Transition Surveys in Europe and Central Asia
geographic_facet	Europe and Central Asia Europe and Central Asia
relation	Background Paper for the World Development Report 2013;
description	This paper attempts to quantify the degree of inequality of opportunity in labor market outcomes for a selection of countries in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. We adapt the Human Opportunity Index (HOI) methodology that has been widely used to study opportunities of children to measures of inequality in the labor market for working age adults, using data from the Life in Transition Surveys (LiTS) conducted in 2006. We decompose the observed inequalities into components that are attributable to circumstances an individual was born into (e.g., gender, parents’ education, minority status, etc) and other characteristics (education and age). We conduct additional exercises with this measure, which examine: (i) comparisons with an expenditure-based measure of inequality of opportunity; (ii) the extent to which the measures of inequality resonate with individual perceptions of life satisfaction and fairness; and (iii) how the results for ECA countries compare with similar measures in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region. Our findings show substantial inequality of opportunity (attributable to circumstances that an individual was born into) in employment status in the ECA region and a high degree of heterogeneity across countries in the circumstances that matter the most for inequality. The correlations between measures and perceptions of inequality among citizens across ECA countries suggest that inequality between groups, including measures of inequality of opportunity, matter more than overall measures of inequality for citizen perceptions of "fairness". The results are robust to different definitions of jobs as opportunities.
format	Publications & Research :: Working Paper
author	Abras, Ana Hoyos, Alejandro Narayan, Ambar Tiwari, Sailesh
author_facet	Abras, Ana Hoyos, Alejandro Narayan, Ambar Tiwari, Sailesh
author_sort	Abras, Ana
title	Inequality of Opportunities in the Labor Market : Evidence from Life in Transition Surveys in Europe and Central Asia
title_short	Inequality of Opportunities in the Labor Market : Evidence from Life in Transition Surveys in Europe and Central Asia
title_full	Inequality of Opportunities in the Labor Market : Evidence from Life in Transition Surveys in Europe and Central Asia
title_fullStr	Inequality of Opportunities in the Labor Market : Evidence from Life in Transition Surveys in Europe and Central Asia
title_full_unstemmed	Inequality of Opportunities in the Labor Market : Evidence from Life in Transition Surveys in Europe and Central Asia
title_sort	inequality of opportunities in the labor market : evidence from life in transition surveys in europe and central asia
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2013
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12134
_version_	1764419152668262400

Inequality of Opportunities in the Labor Market : Evidence from Life in Transition Surveys in Europe and Central Asia

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