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Labor Market Closure and the Stalling of the Gender Pay Gap

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  • Lara Minkus

Abstract

The gender pay gap (GPG) remains a persistent phenomenon in contemporary labor markets. Despite a vast body of research examining its causes, as of today, unequal labor market power resources between men and women have remained an underappreciated factor in the literature. Drawing on the German Socio-economic Panel and the Microcensus, the association between the GPG and labor market closure – a crucial determinant of unequal power resources in labor markets – is followed from 1993-2011. Employing JMP decomposition, unionization, tertiary credentialing and part-time employment are found to exacerbate the overall wage differential by 41 percent. Part-time employment has been the only indictor that enlarged the gender pay gap (17 percent) between 1993 and 2011, while the remaining covariates contributed toward its convergence. These results advance our understanding of stalling GPGs by highlighting the so far widely neglected importance of power resources on the GPG.

Suggested Citation

  • Lara Minkus, 2019. "Labor Market Closure and the Stalling of the Gender Pay Gap," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1049, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1049
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    Cited by:

    1. Ahmed Lahsen, Amina & Piper, Alan T. & Thiele, Ida-Anna, 2020. "Kim Jiyoung, born 1982, and the labour market: Overeducation, gender, income and life satisfaction. Panel evidence from Korea," Discussion Papers 2020/10, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    2. Waitkus, Nora & Minkus, Lara, 2021. "Investigating the gender wealth gap across occupational classes," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108206, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender pay gap; labor market closure; stalled gender revolution; JMP decomposition; dualism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • J5 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining
    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance

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