Wage inequality in manufacturing and the unskilled in Latin America: a dataset 1920–2011

Pablo Astorga

Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, 2025, vol. 43, issue 2, 333-349

Abstract: This research note presents a new dataset of comparable and consistently defined series on wage inequality in manufacturing in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela (LA6) from 1920 to 2011. There are also series of unskilled labor with a wider sectoral coverage. This resource provides sufficient data to inform us about trajectories and turning points across distinct developmental epochs. Overall, the evidence shows a steady rise in inter-industry wage inequality since c.1960 in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico and later in the rest. Additionally, a decline in white-collar premiums across the LA6 during state-led industrialization, followed by rising trends in the decades of export-led growth, and a reversal in the 2010s. Similar contrasting trends are observed in the wage dispersion of unskilled labor.

Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:reveco:v:43:y:2025:i:2:p:333-349_7

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