Low wage work in high employment growth economy, Spain 1994-2004

The aim of this paper is to study in a comprehensive way and with the best and most updated information available the size, evolution, characteristics and welfare implications of low wages in Spain from 1994 to2004. In order to do so we have exploited in a consistent way the 8 waves of the European CommunityHousehold Panel (1994-2001), the new Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2004 and the Structureof Earnings Survey, 2002. The analysis covers the level and evolution of wave inequality, the level of low wage employment, the characteristics of the workers holding low wage jobs, the geographical distributionof low wage employment, and the overlapping between employment, low wage jobs and poverty