Gender wage gap in Vietnam

Abstract

Using the Vietnam Living Standards Surveys of 1992-1993 and 1997-1998, we examine changes in the gender wage gap. Following the method of Juhn, Murphy and Brooks [Marvin H. Kosters (Ed.), Workers and Their Wages: Changing Patterns in the United States, American Enterprise Institute Press, Washington, DC, p. 107], the intertemporal decomposition indicates that changes in observed variables, skill prices, and wage inequality narrow the gap. However, the gap effect has tended to increase the gender wage difference so that the net effect is relatively unchanged. This finding contrasts with that for East European countries but is consistent with the experience in China. Improving education about equity practices in the workplace to combat discriminatory attitudes and further decentralization to facilitate the growth of the private sector are two policy implications.