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The Gender Pay Gap in Austria: Tamensi Movetur!

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Listed:
  • René Böheim

    (WIFO)

  • Klemens Himpele
  • Helmut Mahringer

    (WIFO)

  • Christine Zulehner

Abstract

Policies to reduce the gender pay gap feature prominently on the political agenda and interventions in the labour market are frequently proposed, claiming a persistent wage gap. We examine the change of the gender wage gap in Austria between 2002 and 2007 with new data from administrative records and find that it declined from 24 percent in 2002 to 19 percent in 2007. We observe that women's improved educational attainments were partly offset by a shift in the demand for skilled workers that disadvantaged unskilled labour. The main determinant of this decline is however the improvement of women's relative position in unobserved characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • René Böheim & Klemens Himpele & Helmut Mahringer & Christine Zulehner, 2011. "The Gender Pay Gap in Austria: Tamensi Movetur!," WIFO Working Papers 394, WIFO.
    • Handle: RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2011:i:394
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    2. Paetzold, Jörg, 2019. "Do commuting subsidies increase commuting distances? Evidence from a Regression Kink Design," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 136-147.
    3. Christine Mayrhuber & Christian Glocker & Thomas Horvath, 2012. "Entwicklung und Verteilung der Einkommen. WIFO-Beitrag zum Sozialbericht 2012," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 45798.
    4. Christine Mayrhuber & Julia Bock-Schappelwein & Eva Rückert, 2012. "Neue soziale Risiken in Österreich im europäischen Vergleich," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 45118.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    decomposition; gender wage differentials; matched employer-employee data; wage inequality;
    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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