Trends in the relative distribution of wages by gender and cohorts in Brazil (1981-2005)

Ana Oliveira, Centro de Desenvolvimento e Planejamento Regional (CEDEPLAR)
Raquel Guimarães, Centro de Desenvolvimento e Planejamento Regional (CEDEPLAR)

The aim of our paper is to analyse and decompose changes in earnings relative distribution between men and women in different cohorts, using the relative distribution framework. We use density estimates of the kernel probability for each sex and cohort and decompositions of the relative distribution to get substantive evidences for gender differentials and relative mobility in Brazil. We use microdata from the Brazilian Household Sample Survey (PNAD), for 1981, 1992 and 2005, constructing a pseudo-panel of these repeated cross-sections, that allows us to follow cohorts over time. The relative decomposition refers to location (median) and shape (structure) shifts. The application of this decomposition refers to the analysis of changes in the wages distribution between men and women in two periods. Quantile regressions extend the study to control for covariates over the distributions.