Inequality of Opportunities in the Labor Market: Evidence from Life in Transition Surveys in Europe and Central Asia: BACKGROUND PAPER FOR THE WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2013

This paper attempts to quantify the degree of inequality of opportunity in labor market outcomes for a selection of countries in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. Findings show substantial inequality of opportunity (attributable to circumstances that an individual was born into) in employment status in the ECA region and a high degree of heterogeneity across countries in the circumstances that matter the most for inequality. The correlations between measures and perceptions of inequality among citizens across ECA countries suggest that inequality between groups, including measures of inequality of opportunity, matter more than overall measures of inequality for citizen perceptions of ―fairness. The results are robust to different definitions of jobs as opportunities.

World Bank 2013

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