IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cer/papers/wp202.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Sex Segregation and Wage Gaps in East and West Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Stepan Jurajda
  • Heike Harmgart

Abstract

In this paper we examine occupational and firm-level sex segregation and their relationship with wages in West Germany and in East Germany, where anti- discrimination policies were recently implemented. We employ a representative sample of social-security wage records from 1992 and 1995, including a matched employer-employee sub-sample. We find large differences in the size of the wage gap, but not in the degree of segregation across the two parts of Germany. In contrast to U.S. literature German wages are not lower in predominantly female occupations. Conditioning on unobservable taste and labor quality differences, there is a small wage impact of sex segregation in both parts of Germany. Finally, by 1992 the East German wage structure appears as stable as that of West Germany.

Suggested Citation

  • Stepan Jurajda & Heike Harmgart, 2002. "Sex Segregation and Wage Gaps in East and West Germany," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp202, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    • Handle: RePEc:cer:papers:wp202
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/wp/Wp202.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elizabeth Brainerd, 2000. "Women in Transition: Changes in Gender Wage Differentials in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 54(1), pages 138-162, October.
    2. Brixy, Udo & Kohaut, Susanne, 1999. "Employment Growth Determinants in New Firms in Eastern Germany," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 155-170, September.
    3. Macpherson, David A & Hirsch, Barry T, 1995. "Wages and Gender Composition: Why Do Women's Jobs Pay Less?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(3), pages 426-471, July.
    4. Bonin, Holger & Euwals, Rob, 2001. "Participation Behavior of East German Women after German Unification," IZA Discussion Papers 413, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. 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.
    6. Stepan Jurajda, 2000. "Gender Wage Gap and Segregation in Late Transition," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 306, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    7. Brainerd, Elizabeth, 1998. "Winners and Losers in Russia's Economic Transition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(5), pages 1094-1116, December.
    8. Mark R. Killingsworth, 1990. "The Economics of Comparable Worth," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number ecw.
    9. Jennifer Hunt, 2002. "The Transition in East Germany: When Is a Ten-Point Fall in the Gender Wage Gap Bad News?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(1), pages 148-169, January.
    10. Powell, James L., 1984. "Least absolute deviations estimation for the censored regression model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 303-325, July.
    11. William T. Dickens & Brian A. Ross, 1984. "Consistent Estimation Using Data From More Than One Sample," NBER Technical Working Papers 0033, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Jacques Mairesse & Nathalie Greenan, 1999. "Using Employee-Level Data in a Firm-Level Econometric Study," Contributions to Economic Analysis, in: The Creation and Analysis of Employer-Employee Matched Data, pages 489-512, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    13. Abowd, John M. & Kramarz, Francis, 1999. "The analysis of labor markets using matched employer-employee data," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 40, pages 2629-2710, Elsevier.
    14. Altonji, Joseph G. & Blank, Rebecca M., 1999. "Race and gender in the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 48, pages 3143-3259, Elsevier.
    15. Erica L. Groshen, 1991. "The Structure of the Female/Male Wage Differential: Is It Who You Are, What You Do, or Where You Work?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 26(3), pages 457-472.
    16. Jolliffe, Dean, 2002. "The Gender Wage Gap in Bulgaria: A Semiparametric Estimation of Discrimination," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 276-295, June.
    17. Oaxaca, Ronald L. & Ransom, Michael R., 1994. "On discrimination and the decomposition of wage differentials," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 5-21, March.
    18. Johnson, George & Solon, Gary, 1986. "Estimates of the Direct Effects of Comparable Worth Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 1117-1125, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tairi Room, 2004. "Search Intensity and Wage Differences," Bank of Estonia Working Papers 2004-1, Bank of Estonia, revised 12 Oct 2004.

    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. Stepan Jurajda, 2000. "Gender Wage Gap and Segregation in Late Transition," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 306, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    2. Jurajda, Stepan & Harmgart, Heike, 2007. "When do female occupations pay more?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 170-187, March.
    3. Jurajda, Štepán & Harmgart, Heike, 2004. "When Are ‘Female’ Occupations Paying More?," IZA Discussion Papers 985, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Jurajda, Stepan, 2003. "Gender wage gap and segregation in enterprises and the public sector in late transition countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 199-222, June.
    5. Andrén, Daniela & Andrén, Thomas, 2007. "Occupational Gender Composition and Wages in Romania: From Planned Equality to Market Inequality?," IZA Discussion Papers 3152, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Daniela Andrén & Thomas Andrén, 2015. "Gender and occupational wage gaps in Romania: from planned equality to market inequality?," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-27, December.
    7. Jolliffe, Dean & Campos, Nauro F., 2005. "Does market liberalisation reduce gender discrimination? Econometric evidence from Hungary, 1986-1998," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, February.
    8. Anna Lovasz, 2008. "Competition and the Gender Wage Gap: New Evidence from Linked Employer-Employee Data in Hungary 1986-2003," Budapest Working Papers on the Labour Market 0804, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    9. Pilar González & Maria Clementina Santos & Luís Delfim Santos, 2005. "The Gender Wage Gap in Portugal: Recent Evolution and Decomposition," CEF.UP Working Papers 0505, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    10. 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).
    11. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2003. "Understanding International Differences in the Gender Pay Gap," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 106-144, January.
    12. Caliendo, Marco & Lee, Wang-Sheng & Mahlstedt, Robert, 2017. "The gender wage gap and the role of reservation wages: New evidence for unemployed workers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 161-173.
    13. Hübler, Olaf, 2003. "Geschlechtsspezifische Lohnunterschiede (Gender-specific wage differentials)," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 36(4), pages 539-559.
    14. Niels-Hugo Blunch, 2018. "Just like a woman? New comparative evidence on the gender income gap across Eastern Europe and Central Asia," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-41, December.
    15. Francesco Pastore & Izabela Marcinkowska, 2004. "The Gender Wage Gap Among Young People in Italy," CELPE Discussion Papers 82, CELPE - CEnter for Labor and Political Economics, University of Salerno, Italy.
    16. Michael Baker & Nicole Fortin, 2000. "Comparable Worth Comes to the Private Sector: The Case of Ontario," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 0266, Econometric Society.
    17. Bünstorf, Guido & Krabel, Stefan, 2014. "Gender and Immigration: Double Negative Effects in the Labor Market Outcomes of University Graduates in Germany?," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100290, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Christophe J. Nordman & François-Charles Wolff, 2009. "Is There a Glass Ceiling in Morocco? Evidence from Matched Worker--Firm Data," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 18(4), pages 592-633, August.
    19. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & de la Rica, Sara, 2005. "The Impact of Gender Segregation on Male-Female Wage Differentials: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data for Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 1742, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cer:papers:wp202. 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: Lucie Vasiljevova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eiacacz.html .

    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.