Abstract

We exploit panel data and large, abrupt, and unusual dislocations of Indonesian workers in the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis to investigate the robustness and persistence of inter-industry wage differentials (IWDs). Unobserved worker characteristics explain 36% of IWDs. IWDs persist through the post-crisis decade, although, consistent with a rent-sharing explanation, they shift alongside sectors’ terms of trade in the wake of the crisis. Agriculture pays a wage penalty, and manufacturing offers a statistically significant but small premium. Most IWDs do not seem to be driven by minimum wage laws, worker monitoring costs, the disagreeability of the work, job-specific skills, industry-specific human capital, nonwage benefits, or contracting terms.

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