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The global gender gap in labour income

Author

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  • Tewodros M Gebrewolde
  • James Rockey
  • Akbar Ullah

Abstract

This article introduces a new measure of economic gender inequality (EGI) based on the ratio of women’s share of national labour income to men’s. This measure captures both the principles of equal pay for equal work and nondiscrimination. Importantly, it can be calculated from existing data and is comparable between countries and over time. If we simply consider an unweighted average of our measure of EGI, there has been an improvement between 1994 and 2014. However, once we weight countries by population, average EGI has been increasing. Much of the higher EGI in poorer, more populous, countries is explained by the lower rates of female employment in those countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Tewodros M Gebrewolde & James Rockey & Akbar Ullah, 2025. "The global gender gap in labour income," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 77(4), pages 1006-1036.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:77:y:2025:i:4:p:1006-1036.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpaf011
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    Keywords

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    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
    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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