Earnings disparities in the CR:: Evidence from the nineties and a cross-national comparison

Wage and income surveys from 1989 to 1999 reveal the extent of changes in the inequality of earnings in the Czech Republic and the main components of the new income disparities. The author first examines the increasing differences and the decreasing weight of demographic characteristics in wage structure. Then, in the second part of the paper, evidence is gathered toward a cross-national comparison of income distribution in order to demonstrate the increasing similarity of the Czech wage structure with those in Western countries. The introduction of a market economy in the Czech Republic in the Nineties has led to an increase in earnings disparity similar to those in the West; the communist-era demographic of earnings is being replaced by capitalist market characteristics; and ownership disparities, instead of political privileges, have come to the fore. Thus, the overall earnings structure underwent systemic changes and approaches the Western pattern.