Wages and wage policy

ABSTRACT

Using an alternative data, we built a General Wage Index for the industry of transformation, between 1961 and 1984. Its desagregation permited us to analyse the evolution of real salaries and real wages of the eight professional categories. We verified that the earnings depend, in the first place, on the conduct of the economic cycle, and secondarily, on the factors related to the business’ organizational structure, trade-union movement, and government’s wage policy. The official minimum wage doesn’t seem to determine the wages rate; its major impact concerns to the informal sector.

KEYWORDS:
Wages; wage policy; minimum wage