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A New View of the Male/Female Pay Gap

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  • Baker, Michael
  • Drolet, Marie

Abstract

We construct a new time series on the Canadian female/male pay ratio. The new series is based on wage data rather than the earnings data that has been used in the past. Wages more closely correspond to the price of labour, which is the focus of most theories of labour market discrimination and public policies in this area. Earnings based estimates combine gender differences in wages with gender differences in decisions of how much to work (i.e., hours). Our results reveal significant differences between the wage and earnings based series. Most importantly the wage series reveals that women have continued to make progress in the last fifteen years. In 2006 the wage based ratio is 0.85 while the earnings based ratio is only 0.72. We also find that as the gender wage ratio has risen, the remaining gap in wages is increasingly unexplained in the sense that it cannot be accounted for by gender differences in characteristics that the labour market values.

Suggested Citation

  • Baker, Michael & Drolet, Marie, 2009. "A New View of the Male/Female Pay Gap," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2009-67, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 28 Dec 2009.
    • Handle: RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2009-67
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Michael Baker & Nicole M. Fortin, 2004. "Comparable worth in a decentralized labour market: the case of Ontario," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(4), pages 850-878, November.
    2. Denise J. Doiron & W. Craig Riddell, 1994. "The Impact of Unionization on Male-Female Earnings Differences in Canada," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 29(2), pages 504-534.
    3. Dennis Maki & Ignace Ng, 1990. "Effects of Trade Unions on the Earnings Differential between Males and Females: Canadian Evidence," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 23(2), pages 305-311, May.
    4. Marie Drolet, 2002. "New Evidence on Gender Pay Differentials: Does Measurement Matter?," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 28(1), pages 1-16, March.
    5. R. A. Holmes, 1976. "Male-Female Earnings Differentials in Canada," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 11(1), pages 109-117.
    6. Michael Baker & Kevin Milligan, 2008. "How Does Job-Protected Maternity Leave Affect Mothers' Employment?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(4), pages 655-691, October.
    7. Neill, Christine, 2009. "Tuition fees and the demand for university places," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 561-570, October.
    8. Daniel M. Shapiro & Morton Stelcner, 1987. "The Persistence of the Male-Female Earnings Gap in Canada, 1970-1980: The Impact of Equal Pay Laws and Language Policies," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 13(4), pages 462-476, December.
    9. Roberta Edgecombe Robb, 1978. "Earnings Differentials between Males and Females in Ontario, 1971," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 11(2), pages 350-359, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Maéva Doumbia & Marion Goussé, 2021. "Gender identity and relative income within households: Evidence from Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(4), pages 1667-1683, November.
    2. Nicole M. Fortin, 2019. "Increasing earnings inequality and the gender pay gap in Canada: Prospects for convergence," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(2), pages 407-440, May.
    3. Lemieux, Thomas & Riddell, W. Craig, 2015. "Top Incomes in Canada: Evidence from the Census," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2015-12, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 07 Jul 2015.
    4. Brahim Boudarbat & Marie Connolly, 2013. "The gender wage gap among recent post‐secondary graduates in Canada: a distributional approach," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(3), pages 1037-1065, August.
    5. Li, Jiang & Dostie, Benoit & Simard-Duplain, Gaëlle, 2020. "What Is the Role of Firm-Specific Pay Policies on the Gender Earnings Gap in Canada?," IZA Discussion Papers 13907, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Gagnon, Julien & Geloso, Vincent & Isabelle, Maripier, 2023. "The incubated revolution: Education, cohort effects, and the linguistic wage gap in Quebec during the 20th century," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 327-349.
    7. Yifan Zhang, . "Productivity Evolution of Chinese Large and Small Firms in the Era of Globalization," Chapters, in: Chin Hee Hahn & Dionisius A. Narjoko (ed.), Globalization and Performance of Small and Large Firms, chapter 4, pages IV-1 - IV, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    8. Richard E. Mueller, 2022. "Gender pay gap in the public sector: Evidence from the Canadian Labour Force Survey," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 36(1), pages 29-70, March.
    9. Cameron, Anna & Tedds, Lindsay M., 2020. "Gender-based analyisis plus (GBA+) and Intersectionality: Overview, an enhanced framework, and B.C. Case Study," MPRA Paper 105936, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Fortin, Nicole M. & Bell, Brian & Böhm, Michael, 2017. "Top earnings inequality and the gender pay gap: Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 107-123.
    11. Mohsen Javdani, 2015. "Glass ceilings or glass doors? The role of firms in male‐female wage disparities," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(2), pages 529-560, May.
    12. Luiza Antonie & Laura Gatto & Miana Plesca, 2020. "Full-Time and Part-Time Work and the Gender Wage Gap," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 48(3), pages 313-326, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender Pay Gap; Wages; Earnings;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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