Low pay dynamics in Turkey before and during the 2009 economic crisis

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi, İktisat Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2014

Öğrenci: DENİZ PLEVNELİ

Danışman: MELTEM DAYIOĞLU TAYFUR

Özet:

The impact of the 2009 crisis on employment and low pay dynamics is yet to be analyzed in Turkey. In this study, we attempt to understand how employment status has changed over the crisis period with particular emphasis on wage earners and the low paid among this group. We study entry into and exit from low pay, the correlates of these transitions, composition of the low paid and persistence in low pay both before and during the crisis period. The analysis is done by using the panel component of the Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, which allows us to follow the same individuals for a period of four years. Using two separate panels belonging to pre-crisis and crisis periods, we are able to observe the labor market effects of the 2009 crisis. We start our analysis by examining the transitions between different employment states. Then, conditional transitions between low and high paid states and composition of low paid individuals are investigated both before and during the crisis to see if there is a change in transition rates or of its composition during the crisis. Lastly, the degree of low pay persistence is examined. It is observed that the incidence of low pay increased after the crisis, and this is primarily due to the lower exit rate from low pay. However, persistence in low pay does not show an increase over the crisis period, which we attribute to the rapid recovery of the labor market in 2010.