This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

The role of employment experience in explaining the gender wage gap

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Michal Myck (Institute for Fiscal Studies and DIW-Berlin)
Gillian Paull () (Institute for Fiscal Studies)
Abstract

The wage gap between male and female workers has narrowed in both the US and the UK over the past twenty five years. At the same time, employment rates for men and women have converged. This paper examines the relationship between these two facts by analysing the role played by labour market experience in explaining the narrowing gender wage gap. We analyse the relationships between male and female levels of experience and relative wages in the US and the UK over the period 1978 to 2000. The estimation procedure is based on pseudo panels created from cross-sectional data (Current Population Survey (CPS) for the US and Family Expenditure Survey (FES) for the UK). Possible biases from unobserved heterogeneity and the endogeneity of experience are addressed by using an ‘imputed’ measure of experience based on grouped data and by estimating the wage regressions in first differences. Differences in levels of experience are found to explain 39 percent of the gender wage gap in the US and 37 percent in the UK, and failure to control for unobserved heterogeneity is found to understate the role played by total experience in explaining the gap. The gender wage gap has diminished over recent successive cohorts of workers. However, the evidence suggests that the improvements in relative female wages can’t be attributed to changes in relative levels of experience. For each of the successive cohorts we examine, total experience increases the gender wage ratio by a constant 8 to 9 percentage points in the US and the UK. We find that the average experience for female workers relative to male workers has increased over successive cohorts. However, this has either been insufficient to lead to a noticeable effect on relative wages, or changes in the returns to experience have altered affecting female relative earnings unfavourably.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.ifs.org.uk/wps/wp0416.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for Fiscal Studies in its series IFS Working Papers with number W04/16.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 42 pp.
Date of creation: Jul 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:04/16

Contact details of provider:
Postal: The Institute for Fiscal Studies 7 Ridgmount Street LONDON WC1E 7AE
Phone: (+44) 020 7291 4800
Fax: (+44) 020 7323 4780
Email:
Web page: http://www.ifs.org.uk

Order Information:
Postal: The Institute for Fiscal Studies 7 Ridgmount Street LONDON WC1E 7AE
Email:

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Emma Hyman).

Related research
Keywords: gender wage gap; returns to experience; artificial panel data;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Wright, Robert E & Ermisch, John F, 1991. "Gender Discrimination in the British Labour Market: A Reassessment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(406), pages 508-22, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Greenhalgh, Christine A, 1980. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Great Britain: Is Marriage an Equal Opportunity?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 90(363), pages 751-75, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Blau, Francine D & Ferber, Marianne A, 1987. "Discrimination: Empirical Evidence from the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(2), pages 316-20, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Polachek, Solomon William, 1975. "Differences in Expected Post-school Investments as a Determinant of Market Wage Differentials," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 16(2), pages 451-70, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Polachek, Solomon W. & Kim, Moon-Kak, 1994. "Panel estimates of the gender earnings gap : Individual-specific intercept and individual-specific slope models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 23-42, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Miller, Paul W, 1987. "The Wage Effect of the Occupational Segregation of Women in Britain," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 97(388), pages 885-96, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Black, B & Trainor, M & Spencer, J E, 1999. "Wage Protection Systems, Segregation and Gender Pay Inequalities: West Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 449-64, July.
  8. Blau, Francine D. & Kahn, Lawrence M., 1999. "Analyzing the gender pay gap," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 625-646. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Cotton, Jeremiah, 1988. "On the Decomposition of Wage Differentials," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(2), pages 236-43, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Mincer, Jacob & Polachek, Solomon, 1974. "Family Investment in Human Capital: Earnings of Women," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(2), pages S76-S108, Part II, . [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Katharine G. Abraham & Henry S. Farber, 1987. "Job Duration, Seniority, and Earnings," NBER Working Papers 1819, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Blau, Francine D & Kahn, Lawrence M, 1996. "Wage Structure and Gender Earnings Differentials: An International Comparison," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 63(250), pages S29-62, Suppl.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Waldfogel, Jane, 1995. "The Price of Motherhood: Family Status and Women's Pay in a Young British Cohort," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 47(4), pages 584-610, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2000. "Gender Differences in Pay," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 75-99, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. Susan Harkness, 1996. "The gender earnings gap: evidence from the UK," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 17(2), pages 1-36, May. [Downloadable!]
  16. Light, Audrey & Ureta, Manuelita, 1995. "Early-Career Work Experience and Gender Wage Differentials," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(1), pages 121-54, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Alan Manning, 1998. "Movin On Up: Interpreting the Earnings Experience Profile," CEP Discussion Papers dp0380, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  18. Brown, Charles & Corcoran, Mary, 1997. "Sex-Based Differences in School Content and the Male-Female Wage Gap," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(3), pages 431-65, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  19. Smith, James P & Ward, Michael, 1989. "Women in the Labor Market and in the Family," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 9-23, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Macpherson, David A & Hirsch, Barry T, 1995. "Wages and Gender Composition: Why Do Women's Jobs Pay Less?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(3), pages 426-71, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Goldin, Claudia & Polachek, Solomon, 1987. "Residual Differences by Sex: Perspectives on the Gender Gap in Earnings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(2), pages 143-51, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. O'Neill, June, 1985. "The Trend in the Male-Female Wage Gap in the United States," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages S91-116, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Murphy, Kevin M & Welch, Finis, 1990. "Empirical Age-Earnings Profiles," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(2), pages 202-29, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Williams, Nicolas, 1991. "Reexamining the Wage, Tenure and Experience Relationship," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(3), pages 512-17, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  26. Bowlus, Audra J, 1997. "A Search Interpretation of Male-Female Wage Differentials," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(4), pages 625-57, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  27. Altonji, Joseph G & Shakotko, Robert A, 1987. "Do Wages Rise with Job Seniority?," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(3), pages 437-59, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  28. Jacob Mincer & Solomon Polacheck, 1974. "Family Investments in Human Capital: Earnings of Women," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 397-431 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  29. Borooah, V K & Lee, K C, 1988. "The Effect of Changes in Britain's Industrial Structure on Female Relative Pay and Employment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(392), pages 818-32, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  30. Topel, Robert H, 1991. "Specific Capital, Mobility, and Wages: Wages Rise with Job Seniority," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(1), pages 145-76, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  31. Weiss, Yoram & Gronau, Reuben, 1981. "Expected Interruptions in Labour Force Participation and Sex-Related Differences in Earnings Growth," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(4), pages 607-19, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  32. David Neumark & Sanders Korenman, 1992. "Sources of Bias in Women's Wage Equations: Results Using Sibling Data," NBER Working Papers 4019, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  33. Gunderson, Morley, 1989. "Male-Female Wage Differentials and Policy Responses," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 27(1), pages 46-72, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  34. Waldfogel, Jane, 1998. "The Family Gap for Young Women in the United States and Britain: Can Maternity Leave Make a Difference?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(3), pages 505-45, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? All top Economics journals are listed on RePEc.

This page was last updated on 2009-10-31.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.