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Why Did Gender Wage Convergence in the United States Stall?

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Blair

    (Harvard Graduate School of Education)

  • Benjamin Posmanick

    (St. Bonaventure University)

Abstract

During the 1980s, the wage gap between white women and white men in the US declined by approximately 1 percentage point per year. In the decades since, the rate of gender wage convergence has stalled to less than one-third of its previous value. An outstanding puzzle in economics is ``why did gender wage convergence in the US stall?'' Using an event study design that exploits the timing of state and federal family-leave policies, we show that the introduction of the policies can explain 94% of the reduction in the rate of gender wage convergence that is unaccounted for after controlling for changes in observable characteristics of workers. If gender wage convergence had continued at the pre-family leave rate, wage parity between white women and white men would have been achieved as early as 2017.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Blair & Benjamin Posmanick, 2023. "Why Did Gender Wage Convergence in the United States Stall?," Working Papers 2023-001, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    • Handle: RePEc:hka:wpaper:2023-001
    Note: MIP
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    File URL: http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Blair_Posmanick_2023_why-gender-wage-convergence-stall.pdf
    File Function: First version, January 11, 2023
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Karademir, Sencer & Laliberté, Jean-William & Staubli, Stefan, 2023. "The Multigenerational Impact of Children and Childcare Policies," IZA Discussion Papers 15894, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Del Rey, Elena & Racionero, Maria & Silva, Jose I., 2024. "Employer vs government parental leave: Labour market effects," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    3. Kristin F. Butcher & Deniz Çivril & Sari Pekkala Kerr, 2024. "The Impact of State Paid Leave Laws on Firms and Establishments: Evidence from the First Three States," Working Paper Series WP 2024-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender wage gap; Family and Medical Leave Act; family leave;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions

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