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Is There a Glass Ceiling over Europe? Exploring the Gender Pay Gap across the Wages Distribution

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Author Info
Arulampalam, Wiji () (University of Warwick and IZA Bonn)
Booth, Alison L. (Australian National University, University of Essex, CEPR and IZA Bonn)
Bryan, Mark L. (University of Essex)

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Abstract

Using harmonised data from the European Union Household Panel, we analyse gender pay gaps by sector across the wages distribution for ten countries. We find that the mean gender pay gap in the raw data typically hides large variations in the gap across the wages distribution. We use quantile regression (QR) techniques to control for the effects of individual and job characteristics at different points of the distribution, and calculate the part of the gap attributable to differing returns between men and women. We find that, first, gender pay gaps are typically bigger at the top of the wage distribution, a finding that is consistent with the existence of glass ceilings. For some countries gender pay gaps are also bigger at the bottom of the wage distribution, a finding that is consistent with sticky floors. Third, the gender pay gap is typically higher at the top than the bottom end of the wage distribution, suggesting that glass ceilings are more prevalent than sticky floors and that these prevail in the majority of our countries. Fourth, the gender pay gap differs significantly across the public and the private sector wages distribution for each of our EU countries.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1373.

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Length: 34 pages
Date of creation: Oct 2004
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1373

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Related research
Keywords: glass ceilings; sticky floors; quantile regression; public sector; gender pay gaps;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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    Other versions:
  2. Booth, Alison L. & Francesconi, Marco & Frank, Jeff, 2003. "A sticky floors model of promotion, pay, and gender," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 295-322, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  5. Alison L. Booth & Marco Francesconi, 2003. "Union coverage and non-standard work in Britain," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 55(3), pages 383-416, July.
  6. Wiji Arulampalam & Alison L. Booth & Mark L. Bryan, 2004. "Training in Europe," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(2-3), pages 346-360, 04/05. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Daron Acemoglu & Jorn-Steffen Pischke, 1999. "Minimum Wages and On-the-job Training," NBER Working Papers 7184, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Stevens, Margaret, 1994. "A Theoretical Model of On-the-Job Training with Imperfect Competition," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(4), pages 537-62, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Blau, Francine D & Kahn, Lawrence M, 1996. "Wage Structure and Gender Earnings Differentials: An International Comparison," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 63(250), pages S29-62, Suppl.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Florence Jaumotte, 2003. "Female Labour Force Participation: Past Trends and Main Determinants in OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 376, OECD, Economics Department. [Downloadable!]
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    Other versions:
  18. repec:rus:hseeco:57408 is not listed on IDEAS
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  20. Christopher J. Ruhm, 1998. "The Economic Consequences Of Parental Leave Mandates: Lessons From Europe," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(1), pages 285-317, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  21. Fitzenberger, Bernd, 1998. "The moving blocks bootstrap and robust inference for linear least squares and quantile regressions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 235-287, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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