Minimum Wages, Union Membership and Differentials: The Phillips Curve and the Chilean Labour Market Revisited

Abstract

Several Phillips curve models are presented and estimated with Chilean annual data for 1963–1982. Because of unreliable unemployment statistics, the real wage level is used to represent labour market disequilibrium. The Cortázar‐Marshall inflation index, alternative to the official one, and four different earnings variables are used. Equilibrium levels of earnings and equilibrium differentials are obtained. Market forces, expected inflation, structural change after 1973, and exogenous elements represented by a trend are all statistically significant; government‐determined minimum wage rates and union membership are not. There is no evidence of partial adjustment, and all equilibrium differentials increased during the period.