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Public‐Private Wage Differentials in French‐Speaking Africa: A Comparative Analysis
Author(s) -
Lachaud JeanPierre
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
labour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1467-9914
pISSN - 1121-7081
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9914.1995.tb00255.x
Subject(s) - wage , public sector , private sector , earnings , labour economics , homogeneous , economics , efficiency wage , labor market segmentation , market segmentation , economy , economic growth , finance , physics , thermodynamics , microeconomics
. In the framework of structural adjustment programs implemented in Africa, the idea that wages in the public sector are too high compared to those of the private sector is partly based on wage policies with regard to the public sector. But the existence of public‐wage differentials, inducing a labour market segmentation within the modern sector, has rarely been the object of attentive examination. With the help of earnings functions, based on homogeneous cross‐section and logitudinal data of seven capitals of French‐speaking Africa, the author plans to verify this hypothesis. The main conclusion of this research is that distortions on the modern labour market of many African countries are less important than one may think. In most of the countries considered, public‐private wage gaps are essentially attributable to characteristics of individuals. This suggests that policies aiming to reduce wages of the public sector are no longer justifiable, economically and socially.