Eloiza Almeida (p), Veneziano Araújo , Solange Gonçalves

The urban wage premium (UWP), is given by the positive wage differential in dense areas when compared to less dense regions and remains even after controlling the characteristics of individuals, occupations, and firms. Few studies identify the UWP between genders or, more specifically, that analyze the female UWP. Most studies focus on men, as they have a more stable behavior in the labor market. However, it is precise because there are different behaviors between genders that the inclusion of women becomes relevant. Such differences begin with the decision to participate in the labor market, which is influenced by factors related to family structure and responsibilities and takes into account a coordination process, affecting men and women differently. Unlike analyzing the gender wage gap, the UWP investigation seeks to understand (i) whether the agglomeration economies in dense areas benefit men and women differently, and (ii) whether the allocation or composition of the labor market generates different magnitude for the UWP between genders. With this context, this paper aims to evaluate the urban wage premium for women in Brazil from 2012 to 2019Q3 using the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD-C). These data allow the sample selection correction and allow the analysis of various characteristics of individuals, occupations, firms, and household positions, with national coverage and representativeness. As a result, initially, we show that different characteristics influence the participation of men and women in the labor market. Then, regardless of the method, female UWP is higher than men. Women show an 11.4% UWP, while male UWP is 49% lower, reaching 5.78%. Using the propensity score matching method, we confirm the highest female UWP (+4.83pp). Quantile regressions reveal different magnitude for the UWP throughout the wage distribution and different trajectories between men and women. In general, we show that the Brazilian UWP may be underestimated when considering only the group of men, given the higher female UWP. Still, one can overestimate the UWP when not considering the wage distribution (as we show with quantile regressions). These results are relevant to the UWP explanation in Brazil, by including women and highlighting the differences between genders with different methods.

Samara Vieceli (p), Jefferson Staduto

Mobile factors of production (labor and financial capital) are attracted by the centripetal productive forces where economies are expanding, contributing to accelerate their development. Labor can exhibit allocative behavior relating economic activities and space, especially in times of economic instability, such as the crisis that occurred in Brazil in 2014, which was idiosyncratic and generated a large wave of unemployment across Brazil. This study analyzes the allocative flexibility in the labor market of Brazilian municipalities from 2012 to 2017. The mobility of workers in labor market was estimated based on the turbulence index, separated into four sectors (industry; commerce and services; agriculture and livestock; and public administration). The labor market turbulence index was analyzed by estimating the spatial panel data. The best fit model was Durbin's spatial model with fixed effects and bias correction, according to the Akaike criterion. This model suggests that local and global overflows effects of spatial dependence are important in the allocative dynamics of the Brazilian workers in this period of domestic crisis (2012 to 2017). The spatial lag of the dependent variable (ρ = turbulence index) showed a positive and highly significant coefficient, indicating that high levels of labor mobility in the neighboring municipalities of a spatial location “i” have positive influence on the mobility of the labor market in this municipality. The highest levels of adjustments occurred in more concentrated activities, most of them located in the Northeast of Brazil, with increased employment in agriculture and livestock and public administration. Generally, these were the same activities which presented the highest numbers of hiring in Brazil in the peak of the crisis, while sectors of industry and commerce and services had the largest reductions of jobs. Some of the main factors that influenced labor market adjustments were the coefficient of attractiveness of industry and public administration (inverse relationship); increasing male participation, therefore women were more affected by the layoffs, as well as unskilled labor and low salary ranges. This study pointed out that Brazilian labor market is going through a process of deglomeration of the largest poles towards the secondary regional poles in the hierarchy of the development. Brazilian economic growth and the adjustments of the labor market are slowly recovering from the impacts caused by this shock. This indicates a low dynamism of the economic activities concomitantly with a set of policies that are not contributing to the consistent recovery of the Brazilian economy.

Aleksandra Majchrowska (p), Paweł Strawiński

The number of research on the impact of minimum wage on employment is enormous. Majority of the results points to small and negative impact especially for low-skilled and low-experienced workers. Due to uneven distribution of these workers across regions, the impact of minimum wage policy can be regionally diversified. It may arise especially in countries with minimum wage policy established at the national level and significant differences among regions. An example of such a country is Poland.
Analysing the issue of minimum wage in Poland is interesting for several reasons. Firstly, due to long history and simplicity of minimum wage policy. Secondly, Poland is the country with one of the highest shares of minimum wage workers among all EU countries. Thirdly, significant increases in the minimum wage have been observed. Fourthly, Poland is country with large regional differences: in 2018 the minimum to average wage ratio on local labour markets (at the NUTS4 level) varied from 26% to 66%. Fifthly, regional differences are very persistent.
Several papers analysed the relation between minimum wage and employment across regional labour markets in Poland but none of them took into account spatial dependencies. This paper aims to fill this gap. The authors employ spatial econometrics techniques to analyse the impact of minimum wage changes across 379 local labour markets (so called poviats) in Poland in 2008-2018. The dependent variable is the employment to population ratio. The key independent variable is the minimum to average wage ratio on the local labour market. Variables controlling for the demand side and regional business cycle measures were added.
The results confirm that controlling for spatial dependence in minimum wage studies matters. Statistically significant spatial interactions for the employment variable, minimum to average ratio, and local unemployment rate were found. The total effect of minimum wage variable was found to be insignificant, however the direct effect on local employment is negative and significant (-0.07), and the indirect effect is positive and significant (0.08). The results show that ignoring spatial dependencies underestimates the effect of minimum wages on employment which is an important finding for the policy makers. The need for such research is indicated also by the OECD, which since 2010 in its Economic Surveys stresses that in the case of Poland, one of the solutions to improve the situation on regional labour markets is the adjustment of minimum wage to local conditions.