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The intergenerational transfer of the employment gender gap

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Abstract

Despite well-documented convergence during the later years of the 20th century, labor market attachment remains markedly higher for men than for women. The current paper employs rich longitudinal registry data to investigate the intergenerational transfer of the gender gap in employment. We explore the extent that family- and community-level characteristics, measured in childhood, differentially predict employment for adult Norwegian men and women. Drawing on theories pertaining to the importance of information, skills and gender norms transfer, our empirical analysis demonstrates that a parsimonious set of family- and community-level characteristics can explain a substantial part of the gender gap. These results suggest that female employment continues to be influenced by the intergenerational transfer of beliefs and expectations about family and work.

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  • Venke Furre Haaland & Mari Rege & Kjetil Telle & Mark Votruba, 2014. "The intergenerational transfer of the employment gender gap," Discussion Papers 767, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    • Handle: RePEc:ssb:dispap:767
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    2. Chung, Bobby W., 2020. "Peers’ parents and educational attainment: The exposure effect," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Gueltzow, Maria & Bijlsma, Maarten J. & van Lenthe, Frank J. & Myrskylä, Mikko, 2023. "The role of labor market inequalities in explaining the gender gap in depression risk among older US adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).
    4. Janna Bergsvik & Kenneth Aarskaug Wiik & Ragni Hege Kitterød, 2018. "Parenthood and couples’ relative earnings in Norway 2005-2014," Discussion Papers 873, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    5. Liwen Chen & Bobby W. Chung & Guanghua Wang, 2023. "Stay-at-Home Peer Mothers and Gender Norms: Short-run Effects on Educational Outcomes," Working Papers 2023-03, University of South Florida, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender gap; Employment; Labor force particiaption; Intergenerational transfer;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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