The gender wage gap in the workplace: Does the age of the firm matter?

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.

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonora Matteazzi ◽  
Ariane Pailhé ◽  
Anne Solaz

We examine how far the over-representation of women in part-time jobs can explain the gender gap in hourly earnings, and also investigate how far wage-setting institutions are correlated with the overall gender wage gap and the female part-time wage gap. Using European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) 2009 data for 11 European countries, we implement a double decomposition of the gender wage gap: between men and women employed full-time and between full-time and part-time working women. This shows that the wage penalty of women employed part-time occurs mainly through the segregation of part-time jobs, but the full-time gender pay gap remains mostly unexplained. At the macro level, the gender wage gap tends to be higher in countries where part-time employment is more widespread. Some wage-setting institutions seem to reduce the female full-time/part-time pay gap and the gender gap among full-time workers.


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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-441
Author(s):  
Nils Witte ◽  
Andreas Haupt

Abstract This article analyzes the relation of gender wage inequality to occupational licensing in Germany in 1993 and 2015. We show that the very particular German licensing system and strong gender segregation lead to an overrepresentation of women in licensed occupations. We further investigate, whether both genders benefit equally from licensing in terms of wages. Finally, we study whether both women’s overrepresentation and potential gender gaps within licensed occupations help to explain patterns in the overall gender wage gap. To this end, we distinguish licensed occupations in professions and semi-professions. We use 1993 and 2015 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study to apply repeated cross-sectional regressions and decompositions. Our findings suggest that women benefited more from licensing in 1993 than in 2015. Men’s wage premiums seem to increase over time, but women’s premiums do not. We also show that semi-professions are less rewarding and women are overrepresented in these occupations. Finally, increased demand for licensed occupations is an important contribution to narrowing the gender wage gap. Women’s increased employment in licensed occupations alone would have reduced the overall gender wage gap by roughly 8 per cent.


2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas S. Moore

This article examines the relationship between the changing occupational careers of female wage earners and gender wage inequality. Using Current Population Survey-Merged Outgoing Rotation Group data, it assesses the effect on the gender wage gap of changes in the composition and price both of care-providing occupations that are culturally associated with female labor and of managerial and professional occupations that are not part of the care economy, over the period 1979 to 2015. It finds that the rapid entry of female workers into high-wage managerial occupations, and their exit from low-wage private household work, contributed to gender wage convergence. However, the wage-equalizing effects of occupational shifts and related behavioral changes diminish over time, and wage convergence ceases after 2007. It also finds that female workers continue to be disadvantaged by wage dispersion and that most of the remaining gender wage gap arises within occupations. The concluding sections discuss the findings and their implications for closing the wage gap.


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)


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.


Author(s):  
Oana Ancuţa Stângaciu

The actions taken for the promotion of the equality of opportunity between men and women and for eliminating the direct or the indirect discrimination apply to the field of employment as well as to the field of education, health, culture, information and the participation in the decision making process. Starting from one of the objectives of the Strategy for the equality of opportunity, being aware of the real situation of women participation compared to men participation to the economical and social life, this analysis offers a perspective on the equality of opportunity between men and women in the field of employment, seen based on the statistical data. Thus, in order to quantify this phenomenon using methods specific to the statistical analysis, we used the gender pay gap indicator pertaining to the EU member states per total economy, as well as per economical activities, and the research results show that on the EU level there are still significant gender pay gaps.


Author(s):  
Raquel Mendes

Despite the evidence of female progress with regard to women’s role in the labor market, gender inequality remains. Women are still less likely to be employed than men, occupational gender segregation continues, and females continue to earn less than males. The gender wage gap remains wide in several occupational sectors, among which is the information technology (IT) sector. This paper focuses the determinants of gender wage inequality. More precisely, it investigates for statistical evidence of a glass ceiling effect on women’s wages. Based on the quantile regression framework, the empirical analysis extends the decomposition of the average gender wage gap to other parts of the earnings distribution. The main objective is to empirically test whether gender-based wage discrimination is greater among high paid employees, in line with glass ceiling hypothesis. Larger unexplained gaps at the top of the wage distribution indicate the existence of a glass ceiling effect in Portugal.


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