IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-22-00871.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trade union and gender wage gap: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Xinxin Ma

    (Hosei University)

Abstract

This study is the first to explore the effects of trade unions on the gender wage gap in China. It uses the national longitudinal survey data of 2014–2020 to address endogeneity issues. The results demonstrate that the union wage premiums are higher for women than for men, while the probability of obtaining a union membership are lesser for women than for men. The decomposition results indicate that discrimination against women in non-union member groups is the primary factor contributing to the gender wage gap; further, the discrimination in obtaining union membership also widens the wage gap in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Xinxin Ma, 2023. "Trade union and gender wage gap: Evidence from China," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(2), pages 1098-1110.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-22-00871
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2023/Volume43/EB-23-V43-I2-P91.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Iwasaki, Ichiro & Ma, Xinxin, 2020. "Gender Wage Gap in China: A Large Meta-Analysis," CEI Research Paper Series 2020-5, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    2. Masso, Jaan & Meriküll, Jaanika & Vahter, Priit, 2022. "The role of firms in the gender wage gap," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 454-473.
    3. Morley Gunderson & Byron Y Lee & Hui Wang, 2016. "Union pay premium in China: an individual-level analysis," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(4), pages 606-627, July.
    4. Biewen, Martin & Fitzenberger, Bernd & Seckler, Matthias, 2020. "Counterfactual quantile decompositions with selection correction taking into account Huber/Melly (2015): An application to the German gender wage gap," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    5. Richard B. Freeman, 1980. "The Exit-Voice Tradeoff in the Labor Market: Unionism, Job Tenure, Quits, and Separations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 94(4), pages 643-673.
    6. Henry S Farber & Daniel Herbst & Ilyana Kuziemko & Suresh Naidu, 2021. "Unions and Inequality over the Twentieth Century: New Evidence from Survey Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(3), pages 1325-1385.
    7. Iwasaki, Ichiro & Ma, Xinxin, 2020. "Gender wage gap in China: a large meta-analysis," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 54, pages 1-17.
    8. repec:iab:iabjlr:v:54:i::p:art.17 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Gary S. Becker, 1964. "Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, First Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck-5.
    10. Charlotta Magnusson & Magnus Nermo, 2017. "Gender, Parenthood and Wage Differences: The Importance of Time-Consuming Job Characteristics," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 797-816, March.
    11. William E. Even & David A. Macpherson, 1993. "The Decline of Private-Sector Unionism and the Gender Wage Gap," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 28(2), pages 279-296.
    12. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    13. Kerr, Andrew & Wittenberg, Martin, 2021. "Union wage premia and wage inequality in South Africa," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 255-271.
    14. 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.
    15. Katie Meara & Francesco Pastore & Allan Webster, 2020. "The gender pay gap in the USA: a matching study," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 271-305, January.
    16. Card, David, 1996. "The Effect of Unions on the Structure of Wages: A Longitudinal Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(4), pages 957-979, July.
    17. Ge, Suqin & Zhou, Yu, 2020. "Robots, computers, and the gender wage gap," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 194-222.
    18. Toke Aidt & Zafiris Tzannatos, 2002. "Unions and Collective Bargaining : Economic Effects in a Global Environment," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15241.
    19. Shi Li & Xinxin Ma, 2015. "Impact of minimum wage on gender wage gaps in urban China," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-22, December.
    20. Qing Guo & Siyu Chen & Xiangquan Zeng, 2021. "Does Fintech Narrow the Gender Wage Gap? Evidence from China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 29(4), pages 142-166, July.
    21. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    22. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2010. "The Wage Impact of Trade Unions in the UK Public and Private Sectors," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(305), pages 92-109, January.
    23. Ichiro Iwasaki & Xinxin Ma, 2020. "Gender wage gap in China: a large meta-analysis," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 54(1), pages 1-19, December.
    24. Lewis, H Gregg, 1990. "Union/Nonunion Wage Gaps in the Public Sector," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages 260-328, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. MA, Xinxin & CHENG, Jie, 2023. "The Impact of Trade Unions on the Gender Wage Gap : Evidence from China," Discussion Paper Series 752, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    2. Xinxin Ma, 2022. "Internet use and gender wage gap: evidence from China," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 56(1), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Hansen, Henrik & Rand, John & Win, Ngu Wah, 2022. "The gender wage gap in Myanmar: Adding insult to injury?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    4. Brändle, Tobias, 2024. "Unions and Collective Bargaining: The Influence on Wages, Employment and Firm Survival," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1457, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Xinxin Ma & Ichiro Iwasaki, 2021. "Return to schooling in China: a large meta-analysis," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 379-410, July.
    6. Gressel, Christie M. & Rashed, Tarek & Maciuika, Laura Aswati & Sheshadri, Srividya & Coley, Christopher & Kongeseri, Sreeram & Bhavani, Rao R, 2020. "Vulnerability mapping: A conceptual framework towards a context-based approach to women’s empowerment," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    7. Julián Martinez Correa & Carlo Lombardo & Belén Bentivegna, 2018. "Convenio Colectivo, Sindicatos y Dispersión Salarial: Evidencia de Argentina," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0232, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    8. Kaya Ezgi, 2021. "Gender wage gap across the distribution: What is the role of within- and between-firm effects?," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-49, January.
    9. HORIE, Norio & IWASAKI, Ichiro & KUPETS, Olga & MA, Xinxin & MIZOBATA, Satoshi & SATOGAMI, Mihoko, 2023. "Wage Functions in China and Eastern Europe : A Large-Scale Comparative Meta Analysis," CEI Working Paper Series 2022-08, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    10. Bonaccolto-Töpfer, Marina & Briel, Stephanie, 2022. "The gender pay gap revisited: Does machine learning offer new insights?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Flávio Kauê Fiuza-Moura & Katy Maia & Solange Cassia Inforzato de Souza & Magno Rogério Gomes & Paulo Reis Mourão, 2019. "The luck of being of the right gender and color: a detailed discussion about the wage gaps in the Brazilian manufacturing industry," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 1275-1300, May.
    12. Michael Weber & Jan Kluge, 2015. "Decomposing the German East-West wage gap," ERSA conference papers ersa15p636, European Regional Science Association.
    13. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Firpo, Sergio, 2011. "Decomposition Methods in Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 1, pages 1-102, Elsevier.
    14. Héctor Gutiérrez Rufrancos, 2019. "Are There Gains to Joining a Union? Evidence from Mexico," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(3), pages 676-712, September.
    15. Xinxin Ma, 2019. "The Impact of Membership of the Communist Party of China on Wages," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(4), pages 2839-2856.
    16. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence Kahn & Nikolai Boboshko & Matthew Comey, 2021. "Th Impact of Selection into the Labor Force on the Gender Wage Gap," CESifo Working Paper Series 9103, CESifo.
    17. Ma, Xinxin, 2022. "Parenthood and the gender wage gap in urban China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    18. Miamo Wendji, Clovis & Kouhomou, Clemence Zite, 2020. "Les écarts salariaux de genre dans les entreprises au Cameroun [Gender pay gaps in Cameroonian firms]," MPRA Paper 100286, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 May 2020.
    19. Barber, Michael & Jones, Maggie E.C., 2021. "Inequalities in test scores between Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth in Canada," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    20. Chen, Yutong, 2024. "Does the gig economy discriminate against women? Evidence from physicians in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender wage gap; trade union; discrimination; unionism; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J5 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-22-00871. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.