Chinese-Filipino wage differentials in early-twentieth-century Manila

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: University System of Ohio; University of Toledo
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• 发表日期: 2002
• 页码: 773-791
• 关键词: firm-specific evidence; Malaysia

摘要

Racial or ethnic wage differentials are common in labor markets composed of easily identifiable groups. This article analyzes a rare source of historical wage data for nonwhite populations. An American labor-market survey of Manila in 1900 revealed that average Chinese wages were about a third higher than Filipino wages. This differential appears to have been in large part an overtime premium that compensated Chinese for their longer workdays; partly it reflected Chinese segregation into higher-paying industries. It is, by contrast, very hard to identify any pure ethnic wage premium.