Earnings determinants for own-account workers in the urban informal economy: The case of Bogotá, Colombia

This paper explores earnings determinants for own-account workers in the urban informal economy of Bogotá, Colombia. Descriptive statistics show differences in individual, household and business characteristics when gender and business location are compared. Own-account workers operating in the street, on average, earn less than those in other locations and are the most dissatisfied with their jobs. For all regressions, the dependent variable is the log of hourly earnings. Under the human capital earnings model, women earn statistically significantly less than men for every hour worked. Using an earnings model that includes human, market and social capital factors, there is no gender gap. Education and being married have statistically significant positive returns for men and women. When the data are segmented by gender, age (as a proxy for experience) has no effect on men´s hourly earnings. For women, age and the length of time in business have a statistically significant positive effect on earnings. The number of household members has a significantly negative effect on women´s hourly earnings, but does not affect men´s earnings. Results also show that women in the service sector and men in the sales sector earn significantly less compared to all other sectors.