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New Evidence on the Motherhood Wage Gap

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Author Info
Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina () (San Diego State University, California)
Kimmel, Jean () (Western Michigan University)
Abstract

Using data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we assess the role of employment-based health insurance offers in explaining the motherhood wage gap. Researchers have been aware of the existence of a motherhood gap for many years; yet, the literature has failed to address the role of non-wage compensation in explaining the motherhood wage gap despite the increasing importance of non-wage benefits in total compensation packages. As hedonic wage theory suggests, mothers might view health benefits as desirable and trade-off wages for health insurance. Thus, lower wages for mothers might reflect their relative preferences for jobs offering health insurance. We estimate an endogenous switching wage equation model to account for the self-selection and, thus, endogeneity of having an employment-based health insurance offer. We find that, once the endogeneity of having an employment-based health insurance offer is accounted for, the motherhood wage gap disappears.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 3662.

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Length: 30 pages
Date of creation: Aug 2008
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3662

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Related research
Keywords: motherhood wage gap non-wage compensation health insurance

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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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.:
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    Other versions:
  2. Joshua Angrist & Alan Krueger, 2001. "Instrumental Variables and the Search for Identification: From Supply and Demand to Natural Experiments," Working Papers 834, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Helena Skyt Nielsen & Marianne Simonsen & Mette Verner, 2004. "Does the Gap in Family-friendly Policies Drive the Family Gap?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 106(4), pages 721-744, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Helen Levy, 2006. "Health Insurance and the Wage Gap," NBER Working Papers 11975, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. K. Newey, Whitney, 1985. "Generalized method of moments specification testing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 229-256, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Louise Sheiner, 1999. "Health care costs, wages, and aging," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1999-19, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  7. Deborah J. Anderson & Melissa Binder & Kate Krause, 2003. "The motherhood wage penalty revisited: experience, heterogeneity, work effort, and work-schedule flexibility," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 56(2), pages 273-294, January.
  8. Atrostic, B K, 1982. "The Demand for Leisure and Nonpecuniary Job Characteristics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(3), pages 428-40, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Adams, Scott, 2007. "Health insurance market reform and employee compensation: The case of pure community rating in New York," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(5-6), pages 1119-1133, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Elaine McCrate, 2005. "Flexible Hours, Workplace Authority, and Compensating Wage Differentials in the US," Feminist Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 11-39, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. repec:fth:prinin:455 is not listed on IDEAS
  13. Gruber, Jonathan, 1994. "The Incidence of Mandated Maternity Benefits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 622-41, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Michael Lokshin & Zurab Sajaia, 2004. "Maximum likelihood estimation of endogenous switching regression models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(3), pages 282-289, September. [Downloadable!]
  15. 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)
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Cited by:
(explanations, 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. Christina Felfe, 2008. "The Child Penalty - What about Job Amenities?," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2008 2008-22, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen. [Downloadable!]
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