DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR INCOMES IN URBAN ZAIRE

James L. McCabe

Review of Income and Wealth, 1974, vol. 20, issue 1, 71-87

Abstract: The author addresses himself first to the problem that summary measures of wage income inequality, computed for Kinshasa, the main urban area in Zaire, tend to overstate the degree of total labor income inequality among sharing units of comparable size. It is argued that this is true for two main reasons: (1) earnings from female commercial activity are not recorded in the available statistics; and (2) the 1960 UN definition of household upon which the measures of inequality are based understates the size of the actual sharing unit. Data taken from the 1967 Socio‐Demographic Survey of Kinshasa and the 1970 household budget study are used to test these hypotheses regarding short‐run income inequality. The policy observation is made that, while modernization of the commodity distribution system may provide a disincentive for sharing and a reduction in opportunities for female employment, investment in non‐service sectors may equalize the secular income distribution for a given migration cohort. Evidence of unskilled migrants moving from service to non‐service sector employment in response to increased labor demand is presented. This is accomplished by supplementing sample survey data with time series on aggregate employment by sector for Kinshasa.

Date: 1974
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