TITLE:
Education and Earnings Inequality in Ghana
AUTHORS:
Priscilla Twumasi Baffour
KEYWORDS:
Education, Earnings, Employment, Labour Market, Inequality
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.7 No.4,
April
29,
2016
ABSTRACT: The paper investigates the effects of education on
earnings distribution of urban workers in the Ghanaian labour market between
1998/99 and 2005/6 by using the fourth and fifth rounds of the Ghana Living
Standards Survey. To this end, quantile regression technique is applied to
examine returns to education across the earnings spectrum to identify whether
some workers benefit more from education with its implication on earnings
inequality. Estimated returns to education along the earnings distribution
point to a change in the pattern of returns between 1998/9 and 2004/5 along the
earnings spectrum. Results indicate earnings inequalities have widened with
education across the two periods. Specifically, in 1998/99, earnings inequality
reducing trend of education observed has changed overtime. These results are
robust when the labour market is disaggregated by sector.