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Cognitive, Non-Cognitive Skills and Gender Wage Gaps: Evidence from Linked Employer-Employee Data in Bangladesh

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  • Nordman, Christophe Jalil

    (IRD, DIAL, Paris-Dauphine)

  • Sarr, Leopold

    (World Bank)

  • Sharma, Smriti

    (Newcastle University)

Abstract

We use a first-hand linked employer-employee dataset representing the formal sector of Bangladesh to explain gender wage gaps by the inclusion of measures of cognitive skills and personality traits. Our results show that while cognitive skills are important in determining mean wages, personality traits have little explanatory power. However, quantile regressions indicate that personality traits do matter in certain parts of the conditional wage distribution, especially for wages of females. Cognitive skills as measured by reading and numeracy also confer different benefits across the wage distribution to females and males respectively. Quantile decompositions indicate that these skills and traits reduce the unexplained gender gap, mainly in the upper parts of the wage distribution. Finally, results suggest that employers place greater consideration on observables such as academic background and prior work experience, and may also make assumptions about the existence of sex-specific skills of their workers, which could then widen the within-firm gender wage gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Nordman, Christophe Jalil & Sarr, Leopold & Sharma, Smriti, 2015. "Cognitive, Non-Cognitive Skills and Gender Wage Gaps: Evidence from Linked Employer-Employee Data in Bangladesh," IZA Discussion Papers 9132, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9132
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    2. Giulia La Mattina & Gabriel Picone & Alban Ahoure & Jose Carlos Kimou, 2017. "Female leaders and gender gaps within the firm: Evidence from three sub-Saharan African countries," WIDER Working Paper Series 063, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Maksimova, Mariia, 2019. "The return to non-cognitive skills on the Russian labor market," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 53, pages 55-72.
    4. Hilger, Anne & Nordman, Christophe Jalil & Sarr, Leopold, 2018. "Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills, Hiring Channels, and Wages in Bangladesh," IZA Discussion Papers 11578, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Giulia La Mattina & Gabriel Picone & Alban Ahoure & Jose Carlos Kimou, 2017. "Female leaders and gender gaps within the firm: Evidence from three sub-Saharan African countries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-63, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Rami Galal & Mona Said & Susan Joekes & Mina Sami, 2018. "Gender Diversity, Productivity, and Wages in Egyptian Firms," Working Papers 1207, Economic Research Forum, revised 12 Jun 2018.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    matched worker-firm data; personality traits; cognitive skills; gender wage gap; quantile decompositions; Bangladesh;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • 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
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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