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The gender pay gap and the importance of job size: Evidence from the New Zealand public service

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  • Michelle Gosse
  • Siva Ganesh

Abstract

This study examines the gender pay gap in the New Zealand Public Service in 2002, using the well-known Blinder-Oaxaca method to decompose pay differentials into explained and unexplained components. The major innovation of the paper is its introduction of a 'job size ' variable which proxies the seniority level of individual jobs, to supplement the standard variables such as occupation, age, tenure and ethnicity. The addition of job size to the model dramatically reduced the adjusted or unexplained gender pay gap to an almost negligible amount of 1.1 percent, and was the primary explanatory factor in pay differentials. The results suggest that, within the New Zealand Public Service, the gender pay gap is due to the horizontal and vertical segregation of female employees into lower paid occupations and jobs. Both sources of disparity will need to be addressed to remove the gap.

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  • Michelle Gosse & Siva Ganesh, 2004. "The gender pay gap and the importance of job size: Evidence from the New Zealand public service," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 101-118.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:nzecpp:v:38:y:2004:i:1:p:101-118
    DOI: 10.1080/00779950409544396
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kevin Reilly & Tony Wirjanto, 1999. "Does More Mean Less? The Male/Female Wage Gap and the Proportion of Females at the Establishment Level," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 32(4), pages 906-929, August.
    2. Kimberly Bayard & Judith Hellerstein & David Neumark & Kenneth Troske, 2003. "New Evidence on Sex Segregation and Sex Differences in Wages from Matched Employee-Employer Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(4), pages 887-922, October.
    3. Naur, M. & Smith, N., 1996. "Cohort Effects on the Gender Wage Gape in Danmark," Papers 96-05, Centre for Labour Market and Social Research, Danmark-.
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    Cited by:

    1. Murat Genc, 2017. "Gender, Ethnicity, and Wages in New Zealand," EcoMod2017 10338, EcoMod.
    2. David Fergusson & Sheree J. Gibb, 2009. "Sources of the Gender Wage Gap in a New Zealand Birth Cohort," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 12(3), pages 281-298.
    3. Nayni Gupta, 2015. "Gender Wage Gap in the Last Ten Years: A Case Study of India," Working Papers id:6922, eSocialSciences.

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