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Differences in the Estimates of Gender Wage Gap Over The Life Cycle

Author

Listed:
  • Joanna Tyrowicz

    (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw; National Bank of Poland)

  • Lucas van der Velde

    (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw)

  • Irene van Staveren

    (Erasmus University)

Abstract

Given theoretical premises, there is some ground to expect the gender wage gap adjusted for individual characteristics to be age specific. We rely on a long panel of data from the German Socio-Economic Panel covering the 1984-2008 period. We employ the DiNardo et al. (1996) technique to disentangle cohort and age effects. Our results indicate that the gender wage gap increases over the lifetime, but decreases with time. This finding runs contrary to the hypothesis that it is during the reproductive age that women's wages relative to men's wages suffer most. We suggest explanations for this pattern.

Suggested Citation

  • Joanna Tyrowicz & Lucas van der Velde & Irene van Staveren, 2015. "Differences in the Estimates of Gender Wage Gap Over The Life Cycle," Working Papers 2015-29, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    • Handle: RePEc:war:wpaper:2015-29
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    File URL: http://www.wne.uw.edu.pl/index.php/download_file/1929/
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender wage gap; age; decomposition; non-parametric estimates;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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

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