Explaining Equalization

2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-395
Author(s):  
Lars Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Interwar Period ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Gender Wage Gap ◽  
Wage Gap ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Wage Structure ◽  
Relative Wage ◽  
Wage Policy ◽  
Female Labor ◽  
Female Relative

This article describes and explains the movement of female relative wages in Sweden from 1920 to 1995. During this period the aggregate gender wage gap shrunk from 41 to 15%. The bulk of the change took place in two periods: 1920 to 1940 and 1960 to 1980. With regard to determining factors, the analysis distinguishes between the period before 1960, when the rise in the female relative wage was the result of employment shifts, and after 1960, when wage structure change was the prime determinant. In the interwar period, women moved from low-paid to better-paid jobs, notably in trade and commerce and public services, as legal and administrative reforms opened up the public sector to women and educational reforms raised the educational level of the female labor force. The most rapid change in the gender wage gap occurred at a time when the solidaristic wage policy doctrine was embraced by the blue-collar trade unions and formed the basis of claims in wage negotiations. This study suggests, however, that excess demand for female labor rather than egalitarian ambitions of strong trade unions was the decisive factor behind the rapid reduction of the gender gap. Likewise, supply and demand shifts may well explain why the female relative wage stagnated from the late 1970s. These observations add up to the somewhat unorthodox conclusion that institutions were of primary importance for female relative wage development in the interwar period, while market forces played the leading role after 1960.

Non-parametric decomposition and the choice of reference group

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 1266-1280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sten Anspal
Keyword(s):  
Gender Wage Gap ◽  
Wage Gap ◽  
Reference Group ◽  
Wage Structure ◽  
Index Number ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reference Category ◽  
Male Advantage ◽  
Parametric Decomposition ◽  
Non Parametric

Purpose – The Ñopo (2008) method of non-parametric decomposition, a matching-based alternative to Oaxaca (1973) and Blinder’s (1973) method of wage gap decomposition, is subject to the so-called “index number problem” common to the Oaxaca-Blinder and many related methods: its results are sensitive to the (arbitrary) choice of either male or female sex as the reference category in decomposition. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue by proposing an extension to the method that is invariant to the choice of reference category. Design/methodology/approach – The Ñopo method is modified such that the wage structure of the average worker instead of either male or female worker’s is used as the reference, enabling one to distinguish the “male advantage” and “female advantage” portions of the gender wage gap. As an illustration, a decomposition of the gender wage gap is performed with the modified method, using data from 15 OECD countries. Findings – The empirical results using the Ñopo decomposition indicate substantial differences in estimates of the unexplained gap depending on which sex is used as the reference category. Moreover, this disparity varies significantly with the choice of covariates used in the decomposition. This confirms there is significant cross-country variation in the asymmetry between male advantage and female disadvantage and that a decomposition method making this explicit would be relevant in real world settings. Originality/value – The extension of the Ñopo method proposed in this paper offers a way of decomposing the wage gaps in a way that is not sensitive to the choice of the reference category.

scholarly journals The Gender Wage Gap in Early Modern Toledo, 1550–1650

2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-385
Author(s):  
Mauricio Drelichman ◽  
David González Agudo
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Gender Wage Gap ◽  
Wage Gap ◽  
Gender Disparity ◽  
Female Labor ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Labor Contract ◽  
Patient Admissions

We exploit the records of a large Toledan hospital to study the compensation of female labor and the gender wage gap in early modern Castile in the context of nursing—a non-gendered, low-skill occupation in which men and women performed the same clearly defined tasks. We employ a robust methodology to estimate the value of in-kind compensation, and show it to constitute a central part of the labor contract, far exceeding subsistence requirements. Patient admissions records are used to measure nurse productivity, which did not differ across genders. Female compensation varied between 70 percent and 100 percent of male levels, with fluctuations clearly linked to relative labor scarcity. Contrary to common assumptions in the literature, we show that markets played an important role in setting female compensation in early modern Castile. The sources of the gender disparity are, therefore, likely to be found in the broader social and cultural context.

The Western Australian wage structure and gender wage gap: A post-mining boom analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 619-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Preston ◽  
Elisa Birch
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Gender Wage Gap ◽  
Wage Gap ◽  
Decomposition Analysis ◽  
State Level ◽  
Wage Structure ◽  
Wage Distribution ◽  
Wage Gaps ◽  
Industry Effects ◽  
And Gender

Whilst there is a large literature on the determinant of wages in Australia, relatively few studies have examined the determinants of wages at a state level. In this article, we present a study of the determinants of earnings in Western Australia, a state that experienced rapid growth during the mining boom of 2003–2013. We show that the relatively stronger wage growth in Western Australia since 2001 is the product of both compositional and price effects. We also report on the Western Australia and rest of Australia gender wage gaps. Our decomposition analysis of the mean gender wage gap shows that industry effects (as a result of gender segmentation across industry) account for a much larger share of the Western Australia gender wage gap than they do elsewhere in Australia, with the mining, construction and transport sectors driving the industry effects. Using quantile analysis we show that, relative to the rest of Australia, the Western Australia gender wage gaps are larger at both the bottom and the top of the wage distribution. At the median the Western Australia gender wage gap, at 2014–2016, is on par with that prevailing elsewhere in Australia, with women in both groups earning 10% less than their male counterparts, all else held equal.

The Role of Segregation and Pay Structure on the Gender Wage Gap: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data for Spain

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes ◽  
Sara De la Rica
Keyword(s):  
Gender Wage Gap ◽  
Wage Gap ◽  
Wage Structure ◽  
Gender Segregation ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Salaried Workers ◽  
Gender Wage Differentials ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Employee Data

AbstractThis paper presents new evidence on the role of gender segregation and pay structure in explaining gender wage differentials of full-time salaried workers in Spain. Data from the 1995 and 2002 Wage Structure Surveys reveal that raw gender wage gaps decreased from 0.24 to 0.14 over the seven-year period. Average differences in the base wage and wage complements decreased from 0.09 to 0.05 and from 0.59 to 0.40, respectively. However, the gender wage gap is still large after accounting for workers’ human capital, job and pay structure characteristics, and female segregation into low-paying industries, occupations, establishments, and occupations within establishments.

scholarly journals WHY ARE MARRIED WOMEN WORKING SO MUCH?

2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry E. Jones ◽  
Rodolfo E. Manuelli ◽  
Ellen R. McGrattan
Keyword(s):  
Labor Supply ◽  
Gender Wage Gap ◽  
Wage Gap ◽  
Single Women ◽  
Married Women ◽  
Relative Wage ◽  
Hours Worked ◽  
Nonmarket Goods ◽  
The Hours ◽  
Technological Improvements

Abstract:We study the large observed changes in labor supply by married women in the United States over the post-World War II period, a period that saw little change in the labor supply by single women. We investigate the effects of changes in the gender wage gap, the quantitative impact of technological improvements in the production of nonmarket goods, and the potential inferiority of nonmarket goods in explaining the dramatic change in labor supply. We find that small decreases in the gender wage gap can simultaneously explain the significant increases in the average hours worked by married women and the relative constancy in the hours worked by single women and by single and married men. We also find that the impact of technological improvements in the household on married female hours and on the relative wage of females to males is too small for realistic values. Some specifications of the inferiority of home goods match the hours patterns, but they have counterfactual predictions for wages and expenditure patterns.

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