abstract: 'Purpose Despite a widespread assertion that wages are lower in the

  informal than formal economy, there have been few empirical evaluations

  of whether this is the case and even fewer studies of the gender

  variations in wage rates in the formal and informal economies.

  Consequently, whether there are wage benefits to formal employment for

  men and women is unknown. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the wage

  differential between formal and informal employment for men and women.

  Design/methodology/approach To evaluate the wage differential between

  the formal and informal economy for men and women, data are reported

  from a 2017 survey involving 8,533 household interviews conducted in

  Kosovo. Findings Using decomposition analysis and after controlling for

  other determinants of wage differentials, the finding is that the net

  hourly earnings of men in formal employment are 26\% higher than men in

  informal employment and 14\% higher for women in formal employment

  compared with women in informal employment. Practical implications Given

  the size of the wage differential, the costs for employers will need to

  significantly increase in terms of the penalties and risks of detection

  if informal employment is to be prevented, along with more formal

  employment opportunities using active labour market policies for

  vulnerable groups, perhaps targeted at men (who constitute 82.8\% of

  those in informal employment). Originality/value This is one of the

  first studies to evaluate the differentials in wage rates in the formal

  and economy from a gender perspective.'
affiliation: 'Williams, C (Corresponding Author), Univ Sheffield, Management Sch,
  Sheffield, S Yorkshire, England.

  Williams, Colin, Univ Sheffield, Management Sch, Sheffield, S Yorkshire, England.

  Gashi, Ardiana, Univ Prishtina, Econ, Prishtina, Kosovo.'
author: Williams, Colin and Gashi, Ardiana
author-email: 'c.c.williams@sheffield.ac.uk

  Ardiana.Gashi@uni-pr.edu'
author_list:
- family: Williams
  given: Colin
- family: Gashi
  given: Ardiana
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1108/JES-01-2021-0019
earlyaccessdate: MAY 2021
files: []
issn: 0144-3585
journal: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
keywords: Informal economy; Gender inequality; Wage gap; Public policy; Kosovo
keywords-plus: 'SHADOW ECONOMY; LABOR-MARKET; MARRIAGE; ENTREPRENEURSHIP; PARTICIPATION;

  PENALTIES; COUNTRIES; LESSONS; IMPACT'
language: English
month: MAY 6
number: '4'
number-of-cited-references: '79'
orcid-numbers: 'Williams, Colin C/0000-0002-3610-1933

  Gashi, Ardiana/0000-0002-9225-6788'
pages: 735-750
papis_id: 1fc4e3091521d17b0d5027f045397b5a
ref: Williams2022evaluatingwage
researcherid-numbers: 'Williams, Colin C/B-1198-2016

  '
times-cited: '1'
title: 'Evaluating the wage differential between the formal and informal economy:
  a gender perspective'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000654446300001
usage-count-last-180-days: '4'
usage-count-since-2013: '8'
volume: '49'
web-of-science-categories: Economics
year: '2022'