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Ceiling and Floors: Gender Wage Gaps by Education in Spain

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Author Info
de la Rica, Sara () (Universidad del País Vasco and IZA Bonn)
Dolado, Juan J. (Universidad Carlos III, CEPR and IZA Bonn)
Llorens, Vanesa (LECG Consulting Spain)

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Abstract

This paper analyses the gender wage gaps by education throughout the wage distribution in Spain using individual data from the ECHP (1999). Quantile regressions are used to estimate the wage returns to the different characteristics at the more relevant percentiles and a suitable version of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition is then implemented to estimate the component of the gender gap not explained by different characteristics. Our main findings are two-fold. First, in contrast with the steep pattern found for other countries, the flatter evolution of the gap in Spain hides a composition effect when the sample is split by education. On the one hand, for the group with college/tertiary education, we find a higher unexplained gap at the top than at the bottom of the distribution, in accordance with the conventional glass ceiling hypothesis. On the other, for the group with lower education, the gap is much higher at the bottom than at the top of the distribution. We label this novel pattern as glass floors and argue that it is due to statistical discrimination exerted by employers in view of the low participation rate of women in this group. Such a hypothesis is confirmed when using the panel structure of the ECHP.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1483.

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Length: 35 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2005
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1483

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Related research
Keywords: gender gap glass ceilings glass floors quantile regressions

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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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:
  4. Mincer, Jacob & Polachek, Solomon, 1974. "Family Investment in Human Capital: Earnings of Women," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(2), pages S76-S108, Part II, . [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Angel López-Nicolás & Jaume García & Pedro J. Hernández, 2001. "How wide is the gap? An investigation of gender wage differences using quantile regression," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 149-167. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Polachek, Solomon William, 1981. "Occupational Self-Selection: A Human Capital Approach to Sex Differences in Occupational Structure," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 63(1), pages 60-69, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Juan J. Dolado & Vanesa Llorens, 2004. "Gender Wage Gaps By Education In Spain: Glass Floors Vs. Glass Ceilings," Working Papers wp2004_03, CEMFI. [Downloadable!]
  12. José Mata & José A. F. Machado, 2005. "Counterfactual decomposition of changes in wage distributions using quantile regression," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(4), pages 445-465. [Downloadable!]
  13. Uri Gneezy & Muriel Niederle & Aldo Rustichini, 2003. "Performance In Competitive Environments: Gender Differences," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 118(3), pages 1049-1074, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. James Albrecht & Anders Bjorklund & Susan Vroman, 2003. "Is There a Glass Ceiling in Sweden?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 145-177, January. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Daron Acemoglu & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 1998. "Why Do Firms Train? Theory And Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(1), pages 78-118, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. David Neumark, 1987. "Employers' discriminatory behavior and the estimation of wage discrimination," Special Studies Papers 227, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, 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.)

  1. Tindara ADDABBO & Donata Favaro, 2007. "Education and wage differentials by gender in Italy," CHILD Working Papers wp04_07, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY. [Downloadable!]
  2. Florentino Felgueroso & Juan Prieto Rodríguez & María José Pérez-Villadóniga, 2007. "Collective Bargaining and the GenderWage Gap: A Quantile Regression Approach," Working Papers 2007-06, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
  3. José Ignacio García Pérez & María Dolores Morales López, 2006. "Discriminación salarial en el mercado de trabajo español con especial referencia al caso de Andalucía," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2006/18, Centro de Estudios Andaluces. [Downloadable!]
  4. Olivetti, Claudia & Petrongolo, Barbara, 2006. "Unequal Pay or Unequal Employment? A Cross-Country Analysis of Gender Gaps," CEPR Discussion Papers 5506, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Ina Ganguli & Katherine Terrell, 2005. "Wage Ceilings and Floors: The Gender Gap in Ukraine’s Transition," IZA Discussion Papers 1776, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  6. Molina, José Alberto & Montuenga, Víctor M., 2008. "The Motherhood Wage Penalty in a Mediterranean Country: The Case of Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 3574, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  7. Juan Canal-Domínguez & César Rodríguez-Gutiérrez, 2008. "Analysis of wage differences between native and immigrant workers in Spain," Spanish Economic Review, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 109-134, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Spyros Konstantopoulos & Amelie Constant, 2005. "The Gender Gap Reloaded: Is School Quality Linked to Labor Market Performance?," IZA Discussion Papers 1830, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  9. Coral del Río & Carlos Gradín & Olga Cantó, 2006. "The measurement of gender wage discrimination: The distributional approach revisited," Working Papers 25, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Mario Izquierdo & Aitor Lacuesta, 2007. "Wage inequality in Spain - recent developments," Working Paper Series 781, European Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
  11. Pham, T. Hung & Reilly, Barry, 2007. "Ethnic Wage Inequality in Vietnam: Empirical Evidence from 2002," MPRA Paper 6477, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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