The impact of the crisis on the polarization of Spanish wages

Abstract

This paper evaluates the impact of the economic downturn on Spanish wage polarization. Using the index of polarization of Palacios-González and García-Fernández (2012), we have computed polarization structuring the earners population into groups according to their wages, gender, education, branch of activity, job status and type of contract. Our results show an increase of wage polarization in all the considered categories except for the type of contract and the branch of activity. This increase in polarization is resulting in social tensions and it must be taken into consideration by policy-makers in the economic and social fields.