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Analysing the Gender Wage Gap (GWG) Using Personnel Records

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  • Christian Pfeifer
  • Tatjana Sohr

Abstract

We use monthly personnel records of a large German company for the years 1999–2005 to analyse the gender wage gap (GWG). The unconditional GWG is 15 per cent for blue‐collar and 26 per cent for white‐collar workers. Different returns to entry age explain a substantial part of the GWG as well as segregation of men and women in different hierarchical levels. The relative GWG increases with increasing tenure for blue‐collar but declines for white‐collar workers. Taking into account the different impact of general and firm‐specific human capital on white‐collar and blue‐collar occupation, this is consistent with theories of statistical discrimination.

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  • Christian Pfeifer & Tatjana Sohr, 2009. "Analysing the Gender Wage Gap (GWG) Using Personnel Records," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 23(2), pages 257-282, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:labour:v:23:y:2009:i:2:p:257-282
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9914.2009.00451.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Christian Pfeifer, 2014. "Base Salaries, Bonus Payments, and Work Absence among Managers in a German Company," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 61(5), pages 523-536, November.
    2. Christian Pfeifer & Gesine Stephan, 2019. "Why women do not ask: gender differences in fairness perceptions of own wages and subsequent wage growth," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 43(2), pages 295-310.
    3. Shirai, Daichi & Nagamachi, Kohei & Eguchi, Naotaka, 2012. "The Impacts of Firms' Technology Choice on the Gender Differences in Wage and Time Allocation: A Cross-Country Analysis," MPRA Paper 56666, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 13 Jun 2014.
    4. Christian Pfeifer, 2015. "Effective working hours and wages: the case of downward adjustment via paid absenteeism," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(1), pages 612-626.

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