Salarios públicos y privados: los diferentes segmentos del mercado laboral. Uruguay 1991-2000

This paper analyses wage differentials between public and private workers in Uruguay during the nineties. Previous empirical evidence showed the existence of a wage premium for public sector workers when comparing all public vs. private workers. Consideration of skilled and unskilled workers indicated the presence of a wage penalization for skilled workers in the public sector, whereas unskilled public sectors received a wage premium. The analysis of the uruguayan labor market suggests the need for distinguishing within public sector workers, and also considering different labor segments in the private market. Different methodologies (regression analysis, decomposition of the wage gap, quantile regressions) show the existence of unequal wage patterns between private and public workers, and even within public and private labor markets.