What Explains Wage Differentials for the Urban Wage Earners? : Returns to Education for Ethiopia’s Urban Wage Employed

The Ethiopian labor market is facing the dual challenge of creating new employment opportunities for the rapidly expanding labor force and improving the quality of existing jobs in the labor market. In this paper, the authors estimate an earnings f...

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Main Authors: Nath, Shanjukta, Wieser, Christina
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/612921632214376102/What-Explains-Wage-Differentials-for-the-Urban-Wage-Earners-Returns-to-Education-for-Ethiopia-s-Urban-Wage-Employed
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36398
id okr-10986-36398
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-363982021-10-15T05:10:44Z What Explains Wage Differentials for the Urban Wage Earners? : Returns to Education for Ethiopia’s Urban Wage Employed Nath, Shanjukta Wieser, Christina WAGE DIFFERENTIAL URBAN LABOR MARKET RETURNS TO EDUCATION The Ethiopian labor market is facing the dual challenge of creating new employment opportunities for the rapidly expanding labor force and improving the quality of existing jobs in the labor market. In this paper, the authors estimate an earnings function for the urban wage-employed to understand how investment in human capital shapes labor market outcomes and to what extent human capital returns have been realized. Their key findings show that there are significant gains associated with acquiring higher levels of education in the urban labor market. Interestingly, the authors also find that the margin of completed primary compared to incomplete primary education is critical in explaining earning gains. This finding has important implications for education policies in Ethiopia, a country in which about five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) is invested on education annually with nearly half of the budget ear-marked for tertiary level education. Understanding the returns from various levels of education, in different sectors, regions, as well as gender gaps in earning are critical to think about public investment choices and labor market policies that can support nudging market inclusiveness, equity, and efficiency. Investments by the government aimed at incentivizing completion of primary education can go a long way in ensuing higher wages and improving standards of living in Ethiopia. 2021-10-14T20:41:57Z 2021-10-14T20:41:57Z 2021-09-20 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/612921632214376102/What-Explains-Wage-Differentials-for-the-Urban-Wage-Earners-Returns-to-Education-for-Ethiopia-s-Urban-Wage-Employed http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36398 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper Africa Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE) Ethiopia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic WAGE DIFFERENTIAL
URBAN LABOR MARKET
RETURNS TO EDUCATION
spellingShingle WAGE DIFFERENTIAL
URBAN LABOR MARKET
RETURNS TO EDUCATION
Nath, Shanjukta
Wieser, Christina
What Explains Wage Differentials for the Urban Wage Earners? : Returns to Education for Ethiopia’s Urban Wage Employed
geographic_facet Africa
Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE)
Ethiopia
description The Ethiopian labor market is facing the dual challenge of creating new employment opportunities for the rapidly expanding labor force and improving the quality of existing jobs in the labor market. In this paper, the authors estimate an earnings function for the urban wage-employed to understand how investment in human capital shapes labor market outcomes and to what extent human capital returns have been realized. Their key findings show that there are significant gains associated with acquiring higher levels of education in the urban labor market. Interestingly, the authors also find that the margin of completed primary compared to incomplete primary education is critical in explaining earning gains. This finding has important implications for education policies in Ethiopia, a country in which about five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) is invested on education annually with nearly half of the budget ear-marked for tertiary level education. Understanding the returns from various levels of education, in different sectors, regions, as well as gender gaps in earning are critical to think about public investment choices and labor market policies that can support nudging market inclusiveness, equity, and efficiency. Investments by the government aimed at incentivizing completion of primary education can go a long way in ensuing higher wages and improving standards of living in Ethiopia.
format Working Paper
author Nath, Shanjukta
Wieser, Christina
author_facet Nath, Shanjukta
Wieser, Christina
author_sort Nath, Shanjukta
title What Explains Wage Differentials for the Urban Wage Earners? : Returns to Education for Ethiopia’s Urban Wage Employed
title_short What Explains Wage Differentials for the Urban Wage Earners? : Returns to Education for Ethiopia’s Urban Wage Employed
title_full What Explains Wage Differentials for the Urban Wage Earners? : Returns to Education for Ethiopia’s Urban Wage Employed
title_fullStr What Explains Wage Differentials for the Urban Wage Earners? : Returns to Education for Ethiopia’s Urban Wage Employed
title_full_unstemmed What Explains Wage Differentials for the Urban Wage Earners? : Returns to Education for Ethiopia’s Urban Wage Employed
title_sort what explains wage differentials for the urban wage earners? : returns to education for ethiopia’s urban wage employed
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2021
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/612921632214376102/What-Explains-Wage-Differentials-for-the-Urban-Wage-Earners-Returns-to-Education-for-Ethiopia-s-Urban-Wage-Employed
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36398
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