scholarly journals The Gender Wage Gap in Developed Countries

Author(s):  
Astrid Kunze

Despite the increased attachment of women to the labor force in nearly all developed countries, a stubborn gender pay gap remains. This chapter provides a review of the economics literature on the gender wage gap, with an emphasis on developed countries. We begin with an overview of the trends in the gender differences in wages and employment rates. We then review methods used to decompose the gender wage gap and the results from such decompositions. We discuss how trends and differences in the gender wage gap across countries can be understood in light of nonrandom selection and human capital differences. We then review the evidence on demand-side factors used to explain the existing gender wage gap and then discuss occupational segregation. The chapter concludes with suggestions for further research.

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 789-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francine D. Blau ◽  
Lawrence M. Kahn

Using Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) microdata over the 1980–2010 period, we provide new empirical evidence on the extent of and trends in the gender wage gap, which declined considerably during this time. By 2010, conventional human capital variables taken together explained little of the gender wage gap, while gender differences in occupation and industry continued to be important. Moreover, the gender pay gap declined much more slowly at the top of the wage distribution than at the middle or bottom and by 2010 was noticeably higher at the top. We then survey the literature to identify what has been learned about the explanations for the gap. We conclude that many of the traditional explanations continue to have salience. Although human-capital factors are now relatively unimportant in the aggregate, women's work force interruptions and shorter hours remain significant in high-skilled occupations, possibly due to compensating differentials. Gender differences in occupations and industries, as well as differences in gender roles and the gender division of labor remain important, and research based on experimental evidence strongly suggests that discrimination cannot be discounted. Psychological attributes or noncognitive skills comprise one of the newer explanations for gender differences in outcomes. Our effort to assess the quantitative evidence on the importance of these factors suggests that they account for a small to moderate portion of the gender pay gap, considerably smaller than, say, occupation and industry effects, though they appear to modestly contribute to these differences. ( JEL I26, J16, J24, J31, J71)


1989 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 348-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annelies Knoppers ◽  
Barbara Bedker Meyer ◽  
Martha Ewing ◽  
Linda Forrest

This study examined salary differences between female and male Division I college coaches using three approaches. The human capital approach contends that salary differences are rooted in differences in qualifications. In contrast, a structural approach argues that gender differences in salary are associated with the gender ratio, the proportion of women to men in an occupation. The third approach, capitalist patriarchy, sees the gender wage gap as a function of the intersection of capitalism and patriarchy. We explored each of these approaches and found the greatest support for the latter. Coaches’ wages seemed to be determined for both women and men by both gender and type of sport. Additionally, gender ratio was positively related to the salaries for men only. We discuss the findings as well as their implications for the setting of first-year salaries and the ways in which salary differentiation can be an example of the manner in which gender relations are constructed in sport.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Cukrowska-Torzewska ◽  
Iga Magda

We contribute to the literature on firm-level determinants of gender wage inequality by studying the link between a firm’s age and the size of its gender pay gap. Using European Structure of Earnings data for eight European countries, we find that in all these countries, the gender wage gaps are smallest in the youngest firms. Our results also show that in Central European countries, the size of the gender pay gap clearly increases with the age of the company; whereas in the older EU member states such link is not as apparent. Levels of gender wage inequality appear to be highest in companies that were previously state owned but were privatized during the transition. We interpret our findings with the support of competition and monopsony theories.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Hoang Oanh ◽  
Nguyen Hong Ngoc

PurposeThis paper investigates the extent, the determinants and the change in the gender pay gap in Vietnam in the period 2010–2016 in order to provide suggestions for policy adjustment to narrow gender pay inequality more effectively.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs the propensity score matching (PSM) method to examine inequality in pay between female and male earners sharing identical characteristics. The analysis is conducted for both the full sample and various characteristic-based subsamples. This procedure is conducted for 2010 and 2016 separately to discover the change in gap and inequality during this period.FindingsThe matching results based on the data sets taken from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) 2010 and 2016 affirm that gender income inequality in Vietnam, though persisted, decreased significantly in 2016 compared to 2010, and was insignificant in many subsamples in 2016. In addition to the observable determinants including educational level, occupation, economic sector and industry, unobservable factors are proved to also play an important role in creating the gender pay gap in Vietnam.Practical implicationsThe research findings suggest that policies aimed at mitigating gender pay inequality should take into account both observable characteristics and unobservable factors such as unobservable gender differences that affect wages and gender discrimination in pay.Originality/valueThis is the first study using a matching technique to investigate gender wage gap in Vietnam. With up-to-date data, longer research period and the superiority of the method used in dealing with sample selection bias, the results obtained are more robust, more detailed and reliable.


2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bushra Yasmin

This study analyzes the role of human capital and job attributes, i.e., supply-side determinants, in determining wages in a period of trade liberalization. Using the Mincerian earning function and based on data from the Labor Force Surveys, we construct a model to estimate various wage determinants and compute the rates of return to different educational qualifications and relative occupational wage shares for the years 2005/06 and 1990/91. The estimated earning functions for 1990/91 and 2005/06 are compared to investigate whether individual characteristics—such as gender, job location, nature of job, educational qualifications, and different occupations—cause the wage gap to widen or contract under conditions of trade liberalization. The mean and quantile regression approach is used for estimation purposes. Our key findings postulate (i) an increasing gender pay gap, (ii) a higher wage premium to the highest educational qualification, and (iii) more or less stable relative wages for different occupations over time. In addition, wage dispersion across occupational groups appears more pronounced in 1990/91 than in 2005/06, implying a declining trend in the difference in wage distribution across occupations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (1) ◽  
pp. 381-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Le Barbanchon ◽  
Roland Rathelot ◽  
Alexandra Roulet

ABSTRACT We relate gender differences in willingness to commute to the gender wage gap. Using French administrative data on job search criteria, we first document that unemployed women have a lower reservation wage and a shorter maximum acceptable commute than their male counterparts. We identify indifference curves between wage and commute using the joint distributions of reservation job attributes and accepted job bundles. Indifference curves are steeper for women, who value commute around 20% more than men. Controlling in particular for the previous job, newly hired women are paid after unemployment 4% less per hour and have a 12% shorter commute than men. Through the lens of a job search model where commuting matters, we estimate that gender differences in commute valuation can account for a 0.5 log point hourly wage deficit for women, that is, 14% of the residualized gender wage gap. Finally, we use job application data to test the robustness of our results and to show that female workers do not receive less demand from far-away employers, confirming that most of the gender gap in commute is supply-side driven.


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