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Gender Wage Differentials in China's Urban Labour Market

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  • Meiyan Wang
  • Fang Cai

Abstract

This paper describes and decomposes wage differences between female and male workers. The results indicate that females receive low wages because of unequal pay within sectors, and that the wage gap caused by the difference in sectoral attainment is small. The results also reveal that a lion's share of the wage differential between females and males is attributable to discrimination rather than to the human capital difference between the genders. Eliminating discriminations against females with a focus on intra-sectoral inequality is crucial for reducing female/male wage differentials.

Suggested Citation

  • Meiyan Wang & Fang Cai, 2006. "Gender Wage Differentials in China's Urban Labour Market," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-146, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:rp2006-146
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    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/rp2006-146.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Krueger, Alan B & Summers, Lawrence H, 1988. "Efficiency Wages and the Inter-industry Wage Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 259-293, March.
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    7. Randall S. Brown & Marilyn Moon & Barbara S. Zoloth, 1980. "Incorporating Occupational Attainment in Studies of Male-Female Earnings Differentials," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 15(1), pages 3-28.
    8. Björn Gustafsson & Shi Li, 2000. "Economic transformation and the gender earnings gap in urban China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 13(2), pages 305-329.
    9. Meng, Xin, 1998. "Male-female wage determination and gender wage discrimination in China's rural industrial sector," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 67-89, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Almas Heshmati & Biwei Su, 2017. "Analysis Of Gender Wage Differential In China’S Urban Labor Market," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 62(02), pages 423-445, June.
    2. Jonathan Haughton & Wendi Sun & Le Thi Thanh Loan, 2018. "Discrimination against Migrants in Urban Vietnam," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 24(3), pages 211-232, August.

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