The contribution of changes in employment composition and relative returns to the evolution of wage inequality: the case of Spain.

Wage inequality in Spain decreased slightly between 1995 and 2006 despite significant changes in employment composition. Changes in the composition of the workforce would have increased inequality keeping constant wage structure, but changes in wage differentials are the most important factor determining the evolution of inequality. By subperiods, the low end of the wage distribution compressed between 1995 and 2002, while it experienced a slight increase in inequality afterward, as it was observed in the USA. On the other hand, in contrast to the American case, the high end of the wage distribution was strikingly compressed in the second period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]