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Wage differences between women and men in Sweden - the impact of skill mismatch

Author

Listed:
  • Johansson, Mats

    (Institute for Futures Studies)

  • Katz, Katarina

    (Department of Economics and Business, Karlstad University)

Abstract

We investigate skill mismatch and its impact on gender differences in wage gap and in returns to education in Sweden 1993 to 2002.Women are more likely to have more formal education than what is normally required for their occupation (overeducation), while men are more likely to have less (undereducation).Over- and undereducation contribute far more to the gender wage gap than years of schooling and work experience. In decompositions, adjusting for skill mismatch decreases the gender wage gap by between one tenth and one sixth. This is roughly a third to a half as much as is accounted for by segregation by industry. Thus, taking skill mismatch into account is essential for the analysis of gender wage differentiation, even though it does not alter the result that the estimated returns to education are smaller for women than for men in Sweden.

Suggested Citation

  • Johansson, Mats & Katz, Katarina, 2007. "Wage differences between women and men in Sweden - the impact of skill mismatch," Working Paper Series 2007:13, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2007_013
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Addison, John T. & Chen, Liwen & Ozturk, Orgul Demet, 2017. "Occupational Match Quality and Gender over Two Cohorts," IZA Discussion Papers 11114, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Nordin, Martin & Persson, Inga & Rooth, Dan-Olof, 2010. "Education-occupation mismatch: Is there an income penalty?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 1047-1059, December.
    3. Svenja G rtner, 2013. "German Stagnation vs. Swedish Progression: Gender Wage Gaps in Comparison, 1960-2006," LIS Working papers 586, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    4. John T. Addison & Liwen Chen & Orgul D. Ozturk, 2020. "Occupational Skill Mismatch: Differences by Gender and Cohort," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(3), pages 730-767, May.
    5. Malm Lindberg, Henrik, 2015. "The educational system – causing both skills shortages and low youth labour participation?," Ratio Working Papers 252, The Ratio Institute.
    6. Mañé Vernet, Ferran & Miravet, Daniel, 2010. "Sobreeducación y Sobrecualificación en los Universitarios Catalanes. Una perspectiva de género," Working Papers 2072/179592, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    7. Katz, Katarina & Österberg, Torun, 2013. "Wages of childhood immigrants in Sweden – education, returns to education and overeducation," Working Paper Series 2013:8, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    8. Alan Benson, 2015. "A Theory of Dual Job Search and Sex-Based Occupational Clustering," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 367-400, July.
    9. Line Holth & Abdullah Almasri & Lena Gonäs, 2013. "Career patterns for IT engineering graduates," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 34(3), pages 519-535, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender differentials; discrimination; over- and undereducation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • 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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