Between 2012 and 2019, labour income inequality rose in Argentina, changed very little in Brazil and declined in Chile, Colombia and Mexico. We have used the recentered influence function (RIF) method to estimate the contribution of changes in characteristics and returns to the change in labour income inequality. 

Our results suggest that the characteristics effect is small and unequalizing in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. In Colombia and Mexico, the effect is slightly equalizing but noisy. The returns effect is equalizing in all the study countries except in Argentina where it is quite unequalizing.