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The Persistence of the Gender Earnings Gap: Cohort Trends and the Role of Education in Twelve Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Eyal Bar-Haim
  • Louis Chauvel
  • Janet Gornick
  • Anne Hartung

Abstract

Studying twelve countries over 30 years, we examine whether women’s educational expansion has translated into a narrowing of the gender gap in earnings when including persons with zero earnings. As educational attainment is cohort-dependent, an AgePeriod-Cohort analysis is most appropriate in our view. Using the micro data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Database, we show that while, in terms of attainment of tertiary education, women have caught up and often even outperform men, substantial gender differences in our earnings measure persist in all countries. Using the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method in an innovative age-period-cohort approach, we demonstrate that the role of education in explaining gender earnings differences has been limited and even decreased over cohorts. We also conclude that, when including persons not receiving earnings, earnings differences at levels far from gender equality will likely persist in the future, even if the “rise of women” in terms of education continues – as the share of women in higher education increases and the returns to education in particular for women declines.

Suggested Citation

  • Eyal Bar-Haim & Louis Chauvel & Janet Gornick & Anne Hartung, 2022. "The Persistence of the Gender Earnings Gap: Cohort Trends and the Role of Education in Twelve Countries," LIS Working papers 737, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:lis:liswps:737
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Louis Chauvel, 2016. "The Intensity and Shape of Inequality: The ABG Method of Distributional Analysis," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(1), pages 52-68, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Emanuela Ghignoni & Marilena Giannetti & Vincenzo Salvucci, 2022. "The double "discrimination" of foreign women: A matching comparisons approach," Working Papers in Public Economics 225, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    2. De Paola, Maria & Lombardo, Rosetta & Pupo, Valeria & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2021. "Do Women Shy Away from Public Speaking? A Field Experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    3. Héctor Alberto Botello-Peñaloza, 2021. "Wage Inequality of Venezuelan Migrants in Ecuador," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(1), pages 115-132, March.
    4. Eyal Bar-Haim & Carmel Blank, 2019. "Second-Chance Alternatives and Maintained Inequality in Access to Higher Education in Israel," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 28-37.
    5. Tierney, Warren & Hardy, Jay H. & Ebersole, Charles R. & Leavitt, Keith & Viganola, Domenico & Clemente, Elena Giulia & Gordon, Michael & Dreber, Anna & Johannesson, Magnus & Pfeiffer, Thomas & Uhlman, 2020. "Creative destruction in science," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 291-309.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    -gender gap; education; earnings; age-period-cohort analysis; Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative

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