IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/indrel/v56y2025i2p125-144.html

Working at Home and the Gender Wage Gap

Author

Listed:
  • Elisa Birch
  • Alison Preston

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of working at home on the wages of men and women using cross‐sectional and panel data from Australia. The results show that working at home helps narrow the gender wage gap. A concerning finding is that fathers who work at home earn significantly less than other men who work at home. Policy implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Elisa Birch & Alison Preston, 2025. "Working at Home and the Gender Wage Gap," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 125-144, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:indrel:v:56:y:2025:i:2:p:125-144
    DOI: 10.1111/irj.12456
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/irj.12456
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/irj.12456?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia & Victoria Vernon, 2025. "Remote work, wages, and hours worked in the United States," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-49, March.
    2. Sarah E. Wolfolds & Jordan Siegel, 2019. "Misaccounting for endogeneity: The peril of relying on the Heckman two‐step method without a valid instrument," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 432-462, March.
    3. Luca Bonacini & Giovanni Gallo & Sergio Scicchitano, 2024. "Does Working from Home Increase the Gender Wage Gap? Insights from an Italian Survey of Occupations," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(2), pages 53-88, April.
    4. Patricia Cortés & Jessica Pan, 2019. "When Time Binds: Substitutes for Household Production, Returns to Working Long Hours, and the Skilled Gender Wage Gap," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(2), pages 351-398.
    5. Patrick Puhani, 2000. "The Heckman Correction for Sample Selection and Its Critique," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 53-68, February.
    6. Halvorsen, Robert & Palmquist, Raymond, 1980. "The Interpretation of Dummy Variables in Semilogarithmic Equations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 474-475, June.
    7. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    8. Alipour, Jean-Victor & Falck, Oliver & Schüller, Simone, 2023. "Germany’s capacity to work from home," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    9. Lee, Kangoh, 2023. "Working from home as an economic and social change: A review," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    10. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2017. "The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(3), pages 789-865, September.
    11. Alfred Michael Dockery & Sherry Bawa, 2014. "Is working from home good or bad work? Evidence from Australian employees," Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Working Paper series WP1402, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School.
    12. A.M. Dockery & Sherry Bawa, 2014. "Is Working from Home Good Work or Bad Work? Evidence from Australian Employees," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 17(2), pages 163-190.
    13. Arntz, Melanie & Ben Yahmed, Sarra & Berlingieri, Francesco, 2022. "Working from home, hours worked and wages: Heterogeneity by gender and parenthood," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    14. Claudia Goldin, 2014. "A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(4), pages 1091-1119, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lila Skountridaki & Oliver Mallett, 2025. "‘I Can Just Do Work I'm Paid to Do’: Hybrid Work and Tertiary Labour Time Gains," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(5), pages 339-352, September.
    2. Inga Laβ & Mark Wooden, 2025. "Working From Home: The Australian Experience," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 58(2), pages 154-162, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Benjamin Artz, 2024. "Are Mothers More Likely Than Fathers to Lose Their jobs?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 528-545, September.
    2. Gagnon, Nickolas & Bosmans, Kristof & Riedl, Arno, 2020. "The Effect of Unfair Chances and Gender Discrimination on Labor Supply," IZA Discussion Papers 12912, IZA Network @ LISER.
    3. Basso, Gaetano & De Paola, Maria & Lattanzio, Salvatore & Paradisi, Matteo, 2026. "Workplace Flexibility and the Motherhood Penalty: Evidence from the Diffusion of Remote Work," CEPR Discussion Papers 21486, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    4. Sergio Destefanis & Fernanda Mazzotta & Lavinia Parisi, 2024. "Goldin’s Last Chapter on the Gender Pay Gap: An Exploratory Analysis Using Italian Data," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(2), pages 549-572, April.
    5. Bonaccolto-Töpfer, Marina & Satlukal, Sascha, 2024. "Gender differences in reservation wages: New evidence for Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    6. Thimo De Schouwer & Sebastiaan Maes & Tom Potoms, 2026. "The Price of Long Hours," CESifo Working Paper Series 12779, CESifo.
    7. Marcela Parada-Contzen & Francisca Jara, 2025. "Gender wage gap among the educated: evidence from fields of study in Chile," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Nan L. Maxwell & Nathan Wozny, 2021. "Gender Gaps in Time Use and Labor Market Outcomes: What’s Norms Got to Do with it?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 56-77, March.
    9. Kobus, Martyna & Kapera, Marek & Maasoumi, Esfandiar, 2024. "Gap in many dimensions: Application to gender," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Nathan Blascak & Anna Tranfaglia, 2021. "Decomposing Gender Differences in Bankcard Credit Limits: Evidence from Sole Mortgage Applicants," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-072r1, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), revised 23 Feb 2026.
    11. Katie Meara & Francesco Pastore & Allan Webster, 2020. "The gender pay gap in the USA: a matching study," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 271-305, January.
    12. Palladino, Marco G. & Roulet, Alexandra & Stabile, Mark, 2025. "Narrowing industry wage premiums and the decline in the gender wage gap," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    13. Männasoo, Kadri, 2022. "Working hours and gender wage differentials: Evidence from the American Working Conditions Survey," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    14. Christian Bredemeier & Patrick Ndlovu & Sunčica Vujić & Roland Winkler, 2025. "Household decisions and the gender gap in job satisfaction," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 72(1), February.
    15. Osman, Adam & Speer, Jamin D. & Weaver, Andrew, 2023. "Discrimination against Women in Hiring," IZA Discussion Papers 16598, IZA Network @ LISER.
    16. Barigozzi, Francesca & Cremer, Helmuth & Roeder, Kerstin, 2020. "Having it all, for all: Child-care subsidies and income distribution reconciled," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 188-211.
    17. repec:ags:aaea22:335534 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Altantsetseg Batchuluun, 2021. "The gender wage gap in Mongolia: Sectoral segregation as a driving factor," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 1437-1465, August.
    19. Riccardo Leoncini & Mariele Macaluso & Annalivia Polselli, 2024. "Gender segregation: analysis across sectoral dominance in the UK labour market," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 67(5), pages 2289-2343, November.
    20. Boris Hirsch & Philipp Lentge, 2021. "Non-Base Compensation and the Gender Pay Gap," Working Paper Series in Economics 404, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    21. Inga Laß & Esperanza Vera-Toscano & Mark Wooden, 2025. "Working from Home, COVID-19, and Job Satisfaction," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 78(2), pages 330-354, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:indrel:v:56:y:2025:i:2:p:125-144. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0019-8692 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.