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Understanding the Gender Gap Further: The Case of Turn-of-the-Century Swedish Compositors

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  • Burnette, Joyce
  • Stanfors, Maria

Abstract

To better understand the historical gender wage gap, we investigate the wages of Swedish compositors circa 1900 using a rich data set of matched employer-employee information with national coverage. In line with previous findings, women earned about 70 percent of men’s wages on average. Individual and job characteristics explain much of this shortfall. Firm characteristics or firm fixed effects, on average, explain 17 percent of the gap, though the firm mattered more for the gender gap in big cities than elsewhere. Sorting across firms is thus an important part of understanding historical gender wage gaps. While most studies conclude that a significant portion of the gender gap is unexplained, suggesting labor market discrimination, this may result from a lack of information on the distribution of men and women across firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Burnette, Joyce & Stanfors, Maria, 2020. "Understanding the Gender Gap Further: The Case of Turn-of-the-Century Swedish Compositors," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(1), pages 175-206, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:80:y:2020:i:1:p:175-206_6
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    Cited by:

    1. Kumon, Yuzuru & Sakai, Kazuho, 2022. "Women's Wages and Empowerment : Pre-industrial Japan, 1600-1890," CEI Working Paper Series 2022-05, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    2. Okoro, Ruth Chikwado & Ugwoegbu, Ihechukwu Victor, 2024. "Female Employee Exploitation and Corporate Longevity: A study of Financial Institutions in Imo State, Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(3s), pages 3529-3540, August.
    3. Kumon, Yuzuru & Sakai, Kazuho, 2022. "Women’s Wages and Empowerment: Pre-industrial Japan, 1600-1890," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 18/2022, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.

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