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The Gender Earnings Gap In Britain: Including The Workplace

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  • KAREN MUMFORD
  • PETER N. SMITH

Abstract

The earnings gap between male and female employees is substantial and lingering. Using linked data for Britain, in this paper we show that an important contribution to this gap is made by the workplace in which the employee works. Evidence for workplace and occupational segregation as partial explanations of the earnings gap is presented. Having allowed also for individual worker characteristics there remains a substantial within‐workplace and within‐occupation gender gap. The contribution of these factors, as well as the earnings gap itself, differ significantly across sectors of the labour market. The relative unimportance of occupational segregation and the large remaining gender gap suggest that stronger enforcement of equal pay legislation is likely to be the most appropriate policy response.

Suggested Citation

  • Karen Mumford & Peter N. Smith, 2007. "The Gender Earnings Gap In Britain: Including The Workplace," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 75(6), pages 653-672, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:manchs:v:75:y:2007:i:6:p:653-672
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9957.2007.01040.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Swaffield, Joanna, 2000. "Gender, motivation, experience and wages," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 20188, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Dr Martin Weale, 2000. "Real National Income," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 163, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    3. Joanna Swaffield, 2000. "Gender, Motivation, Experience and Wages," CEP Discussion Papers dp0457, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. John Forth, 2001. "The low-paid worker and the low-paying employer: characterisations using WERS98," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 179, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
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    Cited by:

    1. John Forth & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos & Alex Bryson, 2023. "The role of the workplace in ethnic wage differentials," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(2), pages 259-290, June.
    2. Justman, Moshe & Méndez, Susan J., 2018. "Gendered choices of STEM subjects for matriculation are not driven by prior differences in mathematical achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 282-297.
    3. Chzhen, Yekaterina & Mumford, Karen, 2011. "Gender gaps across the earnings distribution for full-time employees in Britain: Allowing for sample selection," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 837-844.
    4. Marie Drolet & Karen Mumford, 2012. "The Gender Pay Gap for Private-Sector Employees in Canada and Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 50(3), pages 529-553, September.
    5. Christian Pfeifer, 2014. "The Gender Composition of Establishments' Workforces and Gender Gaps in Wages and Leadership Positions," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82, pages 69-81, December.
    6. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Tan, Michelle, 2011. "Noncognitive skills, occupational attainment, and relative wages," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 1-13, January.
    7. Sarah Louise Jewell & Giovanni Razzu & Carl Singleton, 2020. "Who Works for Whom and the UK Gender Pay Gap," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(1), pages 50-81, March.
    8. Fernández-Kranz, Daniel & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2011. "The part-time pay penalty in a segmented labor market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 591-606, October.
    9. S. C. Noah Uhrig & Nicole Watson, 2020. "The Impact of Measurement Error on Wage Decompositions: Evidence From the British Household Panel Survey and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 49(1), pages 43-78, February.
    10. Amadxarif, Zahid & Angeli, Marilena & Haldane, Andrew G & Zemaityte, Gabija, 2020. "Understanding pay gaps," Bank of England working papers 877, Bank of England.
    11. Nikolaos Theodoropoulos & John Forth & Alex Bryson, 2019. "Are Women Doing It For Themselves? Gender Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap," DoQSS Working Papers 19-07, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    12. Jones, Melanie K. & Latreille, Paul L., 2010. "Disability and earnings: Are employer characteristics important?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 191-194, March.
    13. Tim Butcher & Karen Mumford & Peter N. Smith, 2019. "The Gender Earnings Gap in British Workplaces: A Knowledge Exchange Report," Discussion Papers 19/10, Department of Economics, University of York.
    14. Antecol, Heather & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A., 2013. "Do psychosocial traits help explain gender segregation in young people's occupations?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 59-73.
    15. Nikolaos Theodoropoulos & John Forth & Alex Bryson, 2022. "Are Women Doing It for Themselves? Female Managers and the Gender Wage Gap," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(6), pages 1329-1355, December.
    16. G. Guidetti & G. Pedrini, 2015. "Systemic flexibility and human capital development: the relationship between non-standard employment and workplace training," Working Papers wp1019, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    17. Butcher, Tim & Mumford, Karen A. & Smith, Peter N., 2016. "Workplaces, Low Pay and the Gender Earnings Gap in Britain," IZA Discussion Papers 10453, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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