Achieving inclusive growth? Wage dynamics in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam

Figures & data

Figure 1. Provinces in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam where data collection took place.

Table 1. Wage and employment growth, 2012–2017.

	Monthly wage				Employment
Median values	2012 (USD)	2017 (USD)	Growth (%)	Companies with Growth (%)	2012 (#)	2017 (#)	Growth (%)	Companies with Growth (%)
General Worker	147	174	13	88	25	30	25	62
Operator	194	208	9	83	150	190	12	61
Supervisor	259	283	5	72	12	15	3	50
Technician	341	341	4	63	7	9	0	40
Higher Management	539	681	16	87	6	7	0	24

Source: Own survey. Growth rates are calculated from base values, not from median values.

Figure 2. Median wage 2017, by occupational level. Source: Own survey. Logarithmic wage levels. Grey area: Minimum wage level in 2017.

Figure 3. Median wage growth, by occupational level.

Source: Own survey. Note: F&B in Laos shows the same median growth for four of the five occupational levels. Seemingly, companies applied the same rule for wage increases across almost all occupational levels.

Table 2. Relative wage growth, 2012–2017.

Median values	Ratio 2012	Ratio 2017	Change	Companies with growing ratio
1 Higher Management vs General Workers	3.8	4.0	2.5%	59%
2 Higher Management vs General Workers and Operators	3.0	3.3	8.2%	68%
3 Higher Management and Technicians vs General Workers and Operators	2.3	2.4	3.3%	55%

Source: Own survey; Note: Ratios are calculated by dividing the wage for an occupational level (e.g. higher management) by the wage of another (e.g. general worker). If more than one occupational level is used, a weighted average is calculated. Growth rates are calculated from base values, not from median ratios in table.

Figure 4. Wage ratios 2017.

Source: Own survey.

Figure 5. Change wage ratios 2012–2017.

Source: Own survey.

Figure 6. Wage growth and initial wage distribution for all countries.

Source: Own survey.

Figure 7. Wage growth and initial wage distribution for all industries.

Source: Own survey.

Table 3. Regression: explaining wage increase.

	1	2	3	4	5
Dependent variable	Wage growth
Included occupational levels	All occupational levels				Only gw/op
Occupational level (omitted: general worker)
Operator	−0.050***	−0.032**	−0.059*	−0.050	−0.028
	(0.014)	(0.015)	(0.033)	(0.032)	(0.036)
Supervisor	−0.087***	−0.063***	−0.085***	−0.075***
	(0.016)	(0.013)	(0.028)	(0.027)
Technician	−0.062***	−0.044***	−0.068**	−0.054*
	(0.019)	(0.016)	(0.030)	(0.030)
Higher management	0.007	0.044*	0.026	0.034
	(0.023)	(0.024)	(0.028)	(0.028)
Wage level 2012
General worker (low)		0.228***	0.227***	0.237***	0.245***
		(0.037)	(0.037)	(0.036)	(0.038)
Operator (low)		0.198***	0.205***	0.215***	0.212***
		(0.037)	(0.039)	(0.039)	(0.042)
Supervisor (low)		0.189***	0.196***	0.200***
		(0.034)	(0.035)	(0.034)
Technician (low)		0.174***	0.168***	0.168***
		(0.037)	(0.037)	(0.036)
Higher management (low)		0.137***	0.139***	0.140***
		(0.043)	(0.042)	(0.043)
Skills-related variables
Skills shortages			0.017	0.016	0.003
			(0.022)	(0.022)	(0.026)
VSD variety			−0.001	−0.006	0.002
			(0.010)	(0.010)	(0.015)
VSD rating			0.015	0.012	−0.010
			(0.018)	(0.018)	(0.034)
Company characteristics
Sales growth				0.020***	0.020**
				(0.007)	(0.009)
Exports				−0.015	−0.029**
				(0.012)	(0.014)
FDI				0.017	0.007
				(0.011)	(0.014)
Change in products				0.033	0.028
				(0.026)	(0.031)
Change in technology				0.050**	0.044
				(0.025)	(0.030)
Change in organization				0.008	0.028
				(0.017)	(0.018)
Constant	0.417***	0.306***	0.304***	0.175***	0.252***
	(0.063)	(0.053)	(0.052)	(0.058)	(0.064)
Country dummies	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Industry dummies	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Company size dummy	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Observations	1,032	1,032	1,032	1,032	427
R^2	0.194	0.278	0.280	0.310	0.377
Adjusted R^2	0.187	0.268	0.267	0.294	0.351
Residual Std. Error	0.258 (df = 1022)	0.244 (df = 1017)	0.244 (df = 1014)	0.240 (df = 1008)	0.228 (df = 409)

*p<0.1; **p<0.05; ***p<0.01

Note: GW = General workers; OP = Operators. Observations which did not have values for all variables were dropped. Wage growth format: Growth 2017 / Growth 2012–1

Table

Variable	Stats/Values	Frequencies (% of Valid)	Missing
country [categorial]	1. cambodia	342 (29.95%)	0 (0%)
	2. laos	197 (17.25%)
	3. vietnam	603 (52.80%)
industry [categorial]	1. electronics	180 (15.76%)	0 (0%)
	2. food and bev	408 (35.73%)
	3. garment	554 (48.51%)
level [categorial]	1. gw	236 (20.66%)	0 (0%)
	2. hm	214 (18.74%)
	3. op	233 (20.40%)
	4. sup	235 (20.58%)
	5. tech	224 (19.61%)
sal_2012 [numeric]	Mean (sd): 311.07 (251.91)	201 distinct values	0 (0%)
	min < med < max
	70.14 < 241.67 < 3000
	IQR (CV): 180 (0.81)
sal_2017 [numeric]	Mean (sd): 354.97 (301.21)	199 distinct values	0 (0%)
	min < med < max
	91.56 < 268.96 < 4357.83
	IQR (CV): 184.81 (0.85)
gr_sal [numeric]	Mean (sd): 0.17 (0.28)	483 distinct values	0 (0%)
	min < med < max
	−0.35 < 0.09 < 2.49
	IQR (CV): 0.21 (1.63)
change_products [numeric]	Mean (sd): 0.75 (0.68)	−2: 10 (0.88%)	12 (1.051%)
	min < med < max	−1: 43 (3.81%)
	−2 < 1 < 2	0: 249 (22.04%)
	IQR (CV): 1 (0.91)	1: 750 (66.37%)
		2: 78 (6.90%)
change_tech [numeric]	Mean (sd): 0.85 (0.61)	−2: 8 (0.71%)	10 (0.876%)
	min < med < max	−1: 31 (2.74%)
	−2 < 1 < 2	0: 167 (14.75%)
	IQR (CV): 0 (0.72)	1: 839 (74.12%)
		2: 87 (7.69%)
change_orga [numeric]	Min: −1	−1: 256 (22.63%)	11 (0.963%)
	Mean: 0.55	1: 875 (77.36%)
	Max: 1	0: 576 (50.84%)	9 (0.788%)
fdi [numeric]	Mean (sd): 1.35 (1.45)
	min < med < max	1: 70 (6.18%)
	0 < 0 < 3	2: 6 (0.53%)
	IQR (CV): 3 (1.08)	3: 481 (42.45%)
exports [numeric]	Mean (sd): 2 (1.13)	0: 187 (16.50%)	9 (0.788%)
	min < med < max	1: 162 (14.30%)
	0 < 2 < 3	2: 250 (22.07%)
	IQR (CV): 2 (0.57)	3: 534 (47.13%)
gr_total_sales [numeric]	Mean (sd): 0.82 (1.2)	−2: 35 (3.27%)	72 (6.305%)
	min < med < max	−1: 222 (20.75%)
	−2 < 1 < 2	0: 12 (1.12%)
	IQR (CV): 2 (1.47)	1: 435 (40.65%)
		2: 366 (34.21%)
find_emp [numeric]	Mean (sd): 0.73 (0.7)	0: 468 (41.45%)	13 (1.138%)
		1: 499 (44.20%)
	min < med < max
	0 < 1 < 2	2: 162 (14.35%)
	IQR (CV): 3 (1.08)
vsd_n [numeric]	Mean (sd): 1.17 (1.23)	0: 503 (44.05%)	0 (0%)
	min < med < max	1: 166 (14.54%)
	0 < 1 < 5	2: 290 (25.39%)
	IQR (CV): 2 (1.05)	3: 143 (12.52%)
		4: 35 (3.06%)
		5: 5 (0.44%)
vsd_idx [numeric]	Mean (sd): 0.7 (0.72)	12 distinct values	0 (0%)
	min < med < max
	0 < 1 < 2
	IQR (CV): 1 (1.03)