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About time: the narrowing gender wage gap in Austria

Author

Listed:
  • René Böheim

    (Johannes Kepler University Linz
    WIFO Vienna
    IZA Bonn
    CESifo Munich)

  • Marian Fink

    (WIFO Vienna)

  • Christine Zulehner

    (WIFO Vienna
    University of Vienna
    Telecom Paris)

Abstract

We examine the gender wage gap in Austria from 2005 to 2017 using data from EU-SILC. The raw gap of hourly wages declined from 18.6 log points in 2005 to 14.9 log points in 2017. We use standard decomposition techniques that correct for differences in the distributions of human capital and other variables between men and women. Decompositions of the wage gap indicate that both the explained and the unexplained part of the gender wage gap decreased substantially over the last ten years. Using the approach developed by Neumark (J Hum Resour 22:279–295, 1988), the unexplained wage gap shrank from 8.7 log points in 2005 to 5.1 log points in 2017. The main reason for the decline in wage differences was the relative improvement of women’s observed and unobserved characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • René Böheim & Marian Fink & Christine Zulehner, 2021. "About time: the narrowing gender wage gap in Austria," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 48(4), pages 803-843, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:empiri:v:48:y:2021:i:4:d:10.1007_s10663-020-09492-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10663-020-09492-4
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    3. Julia Bock-Schappelwein & Ulrike Famira-Mühlberger, 2020. "Ökonomische Folgen von Schulschließungen," WIFO Research Briefs 18, WIFO.
    4. Bennedsen, Morten & Larsen, Birthe & Wei, Jiayi, 2022. "Wage Transparency and the Gender Pay Gap: A Survey," Working Papers 17-2022, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    5. Andreas Gulyas & Sebastian Seitz & Sourav Sinha, 2023. "Does Pay Transparency Affect the Gender Wage Gap? Evidence from Austria," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 236-255, May.
    6. Koral Zeynep Aktaş & Mercan Murat Anıl, 2021. "Assessing the gender wage gap: Turkey in the years 2002–2019," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 7(1), pages 90-112, March.
    7. Bamieh, Omar & Ziegler, Lennart, 2022. "Can Wage Transparency Alleviate Gender Sorting in the Labor Market?," IZA Discussion Papers 15363, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Thomas Url & Serguei Kaniovski, 2022. "Die Auswirkung einer längeren Erwerbskarriere auf das Pensionseinkommen," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 69656, April.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender wage differentials; Wage inequality; Decomposition; EU-SILC;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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