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The firm-wage gender gap and formal sector churn over the life cycle

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  • Ihsaan Bassier
  • Leila Gautham

Abstract

We find that women sorting into lower wage firms explains nearly half of the gender wage gap in South Africa, using matched employer-employee panel data covering the universe of formal sector workers. Sorting varies considerably over the life cycle: the firm-wage gender gap is negligible for the youngest workers, grows steeply for 25-35-year-olds (i.e. typical child-rearing years), and narrows for older workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Ihsaan Bassier & Leila Gautham, 2024. "The firm-wage gender gap and formal sector churn over the life cycle," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2024-80, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2024-80
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage premium; Gender gap; Wage inequality; Sorting; Worker mobility; Firm-level analysis;
    All these keywords.

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