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Equal pay legislation and the gender wage gap

Author

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  • Solomon W. Polachek

    (State University of New York at Binghamton, USA, and IZA, Germany)

Abstract

Despite equal pay legislation dating back 50 years, American women still earn 18% less than their male counterparts. In the UK, with its Equal Pay Act of 1970, and France, which legislated in 1972, the gap is 17% and 10% respectively, and in Australia it remains around 14%. Interestingly, the gender pay gap is relatively small for the young but increases as men and women grow older. Similarly, it is large when comparing married men and women, but smaller for singles. Just what can explain these wage patterns? And what can governments do to speed up wage convergence to close the gender pay gap? Clearly, the gender pay gap continues to be an important policy issue.

Suggested Citation

  • Solomon W. Polachek, 2019. "Equal pay legislation and the gender wage gap," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-16, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:2019:n:16
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Francesco Pastore & Allan Webster, 2017. "Is the gender pay gap in the us just the result of gender segregation at work?," BAFES Working Papers BAFES08, Department of Accounting, Finance & Economic, Bournemouth University.
    3. Benoit Dostie & Mohsen Javdani, 2020. "Not for the Profit, But for the Training? Gender Differences in Training in the For‐Profit and Non‐Profit Sectors," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(3), pages 644-689, September.
    4. Emanuela Ghignoni & Francesco Pastore, 2023. "The gender wage gap in Egypt: public versus private sector," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(8), pages 1511-1534, May.
    5. Jacqueline Mosomi, 2019. "Distributional changes in the gender wage gap in the post-apartheid South African labour market," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-17, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Gharehgozli, Orkideh & Atal, Vidya, 2020. "Revisiting the gender wage gap in the United States," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 207-216.
    7. Chen, Jie & Pastore, Francesco, 2021. ""Study hard and make progress every day": Updates on returns to education in China," GLO Discussion Paper Series 787, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Chloe Duvivier & Joseph Lanfranchi & Mathieu Narcy, 2015. "Les sources de l'écart de rémunération entre hommes et femmes au sein des trois versants de la fonction publique," Working Papers hal-01292147, HAL.
    9. Andreas Peichl & Julia Schricker & Henrike von Platen & Ulf Rinne & Hilmar Schneider & Ute Klammer & Christina Boll & Ingo Weller & Lena Göbel, 2019. "Entgelttransparenzgesetz gegen Lohndiskriminierung: Viel Aufwand, wenig Nutzen?," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 72(04), pages 03-26, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender; wage inequality; human capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J17 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Value of Life; Foregone Income
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J78 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Public Policy (including comparable worth)

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