Documents published in the IDB working paper series are of the highest academic and editorial quality. All have been peer reviewed by recognized experts in their field and professionally edited. The information and opinions presented in these publications are entirely those of the author(s), and no endorsement by the Inter-American Development Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the countries they represent is expressed or implied.
This paper uses the Labor Force Survey (LFS) from 1999 to investigate the labor market earnings determination process in the small Eastern Caribbean island of Dominica. Given the interval coded nature of the earnings data reported for the LFS, an interval regression model estimated by maximum likelihood techniques is used. A key empirical finding is that the Dominica labor market places a relatively high valuation on formally acquired post-primary human capital assets. We also find that the ceteris paribus public sector pay premium is relatively large and suggests public sector workers are securing a high rent through employment in this sector. A gender pay gap of approximately 20 percent is detected and there is also evidence of a sizeable ethnic pay disadvantage for male members of the island’s indigenous population.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.