Suchergebnisse

Abstract
The purpose of this article is to analyse the gender wage gap in Portugal by applying the counterfactual decomposition method employed by Machado and Mata (2005). In order to obtain a measure for wage discrimination at different quantiles, wage function estimation is based on quantile regression analysis (Koenker and Basset 1978), using datasets from the Inquérito ao Emprego (IELFS – Portuguese Labour Force Survey) of 1998 and 2007. The decomposition of gender wage inequality shows potential wage discrimination by gender due to the differences in the returns of working men's and women's characteristics. This discrimination increases across the whole distribution, for both 1998 and 2007. Although differences in the working men's and women's characteristics declined, the results show empirical evidence of the persistence of the discrimination effect in 2007 – at the same level. In addition, Oaxaca-Blinder's standard decomposition approach, developed in 1973, was applied. The results confirm the average gender wage gap does not reflect the reality observed throughout the wage distribution, inasmuch as it overestimates what happens in lower-level quantiles and underestimates those of the higher levels.

This article focuses on welfare retrenchment in Portugal by analysing the evolution of public sector employment up until 2013. A multidimensional analysis of the structure of public employment in the Portuguese state was developed, theoretically guided by the 'hands of the state' model proposed by Bourdieu, which divides the main functions of contemporary states between its left hand (more redistributive) and its right hand (more rational economic-oriented). Bourdieu's approach is especially useful in addressing the transformations of the Portuguese public employment between 1979 and 2013, characterized by specific economic, social and political changes. In 2013 – a year in which the adjustment measures agreed by the Portuguese government, the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund during the global crisis were especially intense – we observed the tendency towards the disqualification of public employment and the shrinking of the left hand of the Portuguese state. Public policy orientations in the areas of education and science were particularly troubling, considering the structural backwardness the country faces in these fields in the context of the European Union.

Policy makers and researchers are alarmed by the pervasive substandard working conditions and mistreatment in domestic work worldwide. Using an original dataset from a sample of domestic workers in Portugal (n = 684), our study explores types of abuse and harassment and tries to unveil the potential factors affecting the likelihood of having been a victim. Empirical evidence pointed to three segments of domestic workers: victims of labour abuses related to contract and wages, victims of multiple abuses including mistreatment and also psychological and sexual harassment, and a segment with no occurrence of abuse. Informal workers are more often victims of labour abuses, while migrants, especially Brazilian women, are more likely to report all types of abuse and harassment. On the other hand, carers of the elderly often suffered multiple abuses. The results suggest that despite the prevalence of labour abuses in Portugal, the most severe abuses are uncommon.