한국의 지역간 임금격차: 지역별 고용조사(RES)를 중심으로

This study reestimates regional wage differentials in Korea using RES(Regional Employment Survey) and shows the significance of biases that may result from using KLIPS(Korea Labor and Income Panel Survey) or OES(Occupational Employment Statistics) in estimating wage differentials across regions. This study differentiates itself from previous studies in terms of data and methods in estimating regional wage differentials. Our estimates indicate that one can reach different conclusions about regional wage differentials in Korea depending on which data sets are used. Also, this study detects the existence of sample selection bias although it does not affect the estimates of regional wage differentials considerably. Using the RES and Generalized Entropy Index, this study finds that wage inequality across regions in Korea arises from inequality within regions rather than between regions. In 2008 the variance of regional wage differentials is estimated 5.1% which does not seem large. However, there are found large wage differentials between capital areas(Seoul, Incheon and Geounggi) and the rest of Korea. This result implies that policies aiming at reducing regional wage differentials in Korea should be devoted to reducing wage gaps between capital areas and the rest of Korea.