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The gender lifetime earnings gap: Exploring gendered pay from the life course perspective

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  • Boll, Christina
  • Jahn, Malte
  • Lagemann, Andreas

Abstract

Research on the gender earnings divide so far mostly focuses on the gender gap in hourly wages which, due to its snapshot nature, is inappropriate to capture the biographical dimension of gendered pay. With the 'gender lifetime earnings gap' (GLEG), we introduce a new measure that meets this requirement. Based on a group of 93,511 German individuals born 1950-64 from the 'Sample of Integrated Labour Market Biographies' (SIAB 7510), we find that at the end of the employment career, women accumulated 49.8 % less earnings than men. Thus, the GLEG is more than twice as high as the current German gender pay gap. The GLEG is the largest (smallest) at the bottom (top) of the earnings distribution. It most prominently widens during the period of family formation (age 25-35). Relatedly, gender differences in endowments, mainly in terms of experience and hours, answer for three quarters of the GLEG. For younger cohorts, family breaks tend to lose importance whereas the role of work hours remains unchanged. Furthermore, the GLEG notably differs between occupational segments.

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  • Boll, Christina & Jahn, Malte & Lagemann, Andreas, 2017. "The gender lifetime earnings gap: Exploring gendered pay from the life course perspective," HWWI Research Papers 179, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:179
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    3. Glaubitz, Rick & Harnack-Eber, Astrid & Wetter, Miriam, 2022. "The gender gap in lifetime earnings: The role of parenthood," Discussion Papers 2022/3, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    4. Seckler, Matthias, 2019. "Increasing inequality in lifetime earnings: A tale of educational upgrading and changing employment patterns," University of Tübingen Working Papers in Business and Economics 119, University of Tuebingen, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, School of Business and Economics.
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    8. Matthias Seckler, 2022. "Increasing Inequality in Long‐Term Earnings: A Tale of Educational Upgrading and Changing Employment Patterns," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(3), pages 617-652, September.
    9. Averkamp, Dorothée, 2024. "The Gender Wage Gap, Labor-Market Experience, and Family Choices: Lessons from East Germany?," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302347, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    lifetime earnings; Blinder & Oaxaca decomposition; occupational segments; cohort analysis; gender; life course; wage distribution; wage gap;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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