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13 - Goulash Labour Market Structural Reforms

Hungary, 1986–2016

from Part III - Case Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2020

By
Nauro F. Campos
Edited by
Nauro F. Campos ,
Paul De Grauwe  and
Yuemei Ji
Nauro F. Campos
Affiliation:
University College London
Paul De Grauwe
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
Yuemei Ji
Affiliation:
University College London
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Summary

This chapter investigates structural labour market reforms in Hungary from 1986 to 2016, a period encompassing the fall of communism, EU accession in 2004 and the global financial crisis. Using the narrative approach, we identify three main labour reforms: in 1992 and 2002 aimed at increasing and in 2012 aimed at decreasing employment protection. We study their effects using a unique data set of about 6 million Hungarian wage earners. We find that (1) the skill premium almost doubled from 6.4 per cent in 1986 to 12.3 per cent in 2016, but peaking in 2004; (2) the gender wage gap decreased to a third with the difference in log wages declining from 0.31 in 1986 to 0.13 in 2004, with no changes thereafter; and (3) gender discrimination practically halved as the unexplained component from the Oaxaca decomposition of the difference in log wages decreased from 0.27 in 1989 to 0.15 after 2004.

Keywords

labour marketsHungarystructural reformsskillsgender
Type
Chapter
Information
Economic Growth and Structural Reforms in Europe , pp. 407 - 433
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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