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Biological Gender Differences, Absenteeism and the Earning Gap

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Andrea Ichino
Enrico Moretti

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Abstract

In most Western countries illness-related absenteeism is higher among female workers than among male workers. Using the personnel dataset of a large Italian bank, we show that the probability of an absence due to illness increases for females, relative to males, approximately 28 days after a previous illness. This difference disappears for workers age 45 or older. We interpret this as evidence that the menstrual cycle raises female absenteeism. Absences with a 28-day cycle explain a significant fraction of the male-female absenteeism gap. To investigate the effect of absenteeism on earnings, we use a simple signaling model in which employers cannot directly observe workers' productivity, and therefore use observable characteristics %u2013 including absenteeism %u2013 to set wages. Since men are absent from work because of health and shirking reasons, while women face an additional exogenous source of health shocks due to menstruation, the signal extraction based on absenteeism is more informative about shirking for males than for females. Consistent with the predictions of the model, we find that the relationship between earnings and absenteeism is more negative for males than for females. Furthermore, this difference declines with seniority, as employers learn more about their workers' true productivity. Finally, we calculate the earnings cost for women associated with menstruation. We find that higher absenteeism induced by the 28-day cycle explains 11.8 percent of the earnings gender differential.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 12369.

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Date of creation: Jul 2006
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12369

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination

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  1. Dionne, Georges & Dostie, Benoit, 2008. "Correlated Poisson Processes with Unobserved Heterogeneity: Estimating the Determinants of Paid and Unpaid Leave," IZA Discussion Papers 3642, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  2. Matthias Weiss, 2008. "Sick Leave and the Composition of Work Teams," MEA discussion paper series 07149, Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA), University of Mannheim. [Downloadable!]
  3. Alberto Alesina & Andrea Ichino & Loukas Karabarbounis, 2007. "Gender Based Taxation and the Division of Family Chores," IZA Discussion Papers 3233, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  4. Rao K, Surekha & Jaireth, Sushma & K K, Seethamma, 2006. "International perspectives on Gender, science and Development," MPRA Paper 2630, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  5. Markussen, Simen & Roed, Knut & Røgeberg, Ole J. & Gaure, Simen, 2009. "The Anatomy of Absenteeism," IZA Discussion Papers 4240, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  6. Charles T. Clotfelter & Helen F. Ladd & Jacob L. Vigdor, 2007. "Are Teacher Absences Worth Worrying About in the U.S.?," NBER Working Papers 13648, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Pfeifer, Christian & Sohr, Tatjana, 2008. "Analysing the Gender Wage Gap Using Personnel Records of a Large German Company," IZA Discussion Papers 3533, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  8. De Paola, Maria, 2008. "Absenteeism and Peer Interaction Effects: Evidence from an Italian Public Institute," MPRA Paper 11425, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  9. Böckerman, Petri & Ilmakunnas, Pekka, 2006. "Interaction of job disamenities, job satisfaction, and sickness absences: Evidence from a representative sample of Finnish workers," MPRA Paper 1800, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  10. ASANO Hirokatsu & KAWAGUCHI Daiji, 2007. "Male-Female Wage and Productivity Differentials: A Structural Approach Using Japanese Firm-level Panel Data," Discussion papers 07020, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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