IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v49y1996i3p537-546.html

Is Gender Pay Discrimination on the Wane? Evidence from Panel Data, 1968–1989

Author

Listed:
  • Javed Ashraf

Abstract

Previous studies of the gender pay gap in the United States have found a narrowing of that gap in the past two decades, but have differed substantially in the reported magnitude of that change. This study calculates gender earnings differences using Panel Study of Income Dynamics data for 1968–89, a longer time series than has been examined by any similar study. It also employs improved statistical techniques, notably an adjustment for selection bias and a recently recommended modification of the most commonly used decomposition technique. The author finds a significant decline both in the portion of the differential due to observed differences between men's and women's characteristics and in the “unexplained†component, which is often attributed to discrimination. The results of one analysis show that over the 1968–89 period the gender pay gap narrowed to as little as 47%.

Suggested Citation

  • Javed Ashraf, 1996. "Is Gender Pay Discrimination on the Wane? Evidence from Panel Data, 1968–1989," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 49(3), pages 537-546, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:49:y:1996:i:3:p:537-546
    DOI: 10.1177/001979399604900310
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001979399604900310
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/001979399604900310?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. Francine D. Blau & Andrea H. Beller, 1988. "Trends in Earnings Differentials by Gender, 1971–1981," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 41(4), pages 513-529, July.
    2. O'Neill, June, 1985. "The Trend in the Male-Female Wage Gap in the United States," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 91-116, January.
    3. Sanders Korenman & David Neumark, 1991. "Does Marriage Really Make Men More Productive?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 26(2), pages 282-307.
    4. Fuchs, Victor R, 1986. "His and Hers: Gender Differences in Work and Income, 1959-1979," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(3), pages 245-272, July.
    5. James Heckman, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    6. Cotton, Jeremiah, 1988. "On the Decomposition of Wage Differentials," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(2), pages 236-243, May.
    7. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    8. Dolton, P J & Makepeace, G H, 1986. "Sample Selection and Male-Female Earnings Differentials in the Graduate Labour Market," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 38(2), pages 317-341, July.
    9. David Neumark, 1988. "Employers' Discriminatory Behavior and the Estimation of Wage Discrimination," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 23(3), pages 279-295.
    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. Andrew M. Gill & Duane E. Leigh, 2000. "Community College Enrollment, College Major, and the Gender Wage Gap," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 54(1), pages 163-181, October.
    2. Eric J. Solberg, 2005. "The Gender Pay Gap by Occupation: A Test of the Crowding Hypothesis," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 23(1), pages 129-148, January.
    3. Constantin G. Ogloblin, 1999. "The Gender Earnings Differential in the Russian Transition Economy," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 52(4), pages 602-627, July.
    4. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3143-3259 is not listed on IDEAS

    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. Golder, Stefan M., 2000. "Endowment or Discrimination? An Analysis of Immigrant-Native Earnings Differentials in Switzerland," Kiel Working Papers 967, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
    2. MS Mohanty, 2001. "Determination Of Participation Decision, Hiring Decision, And Wages In A Double Selection Framework: Male‐Female Wage Differentials In The U.S. Labor Market Revisited," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 19(2), pages 197-212, April.
    3. Ma, Xinxin, 2022. "Parenthood and the gender wage gap in urban China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Agrawal, Tushar, 2014. "Gender and caste-based wage discrimination in India : some recent evidence," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 47(4), pages 329-340.
    5. Ben Jann, 2008. "A Stata implementation of the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition," ETH Zurich Sociology Working Papers 5, ETH Zurich, Chair of Sociology, revised 14 May 2008.
    6. Eric Solberg, 2004. "Occupational assignment, hiring discrimination, and the gender pay gap," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 32(1), pages 11-27, March.
    7. Jacqueline Agesa & Richard Agesa, 1999. "Gender differences in the incidence of rural to urban migration: Evidence from Kenya," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(6), pages 36-58.
    8. Karen Mumford & Cristina Sechel, 2020. "Pay and Job Rank among Academic Economists in the UK: Is Gender Relevant?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(1), pages 82-113, March.
    9. Günalp, Burak & Cilasun, Seyit Mümin & Acar, Elif Öznur, 2013. "Male-Female Labor Market Participation and the Extent of Gender-Based Wage Discrimination in Turkey," MPRA Paper 51503, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Ahmed, Salma & McGillivray, Mark, 2015. "Human Capital, Discrimination, and the Gender Wage Gap in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 506-524.
    11. Garey Durden & Patricia Gaynor, 2000. "Relative changes in gender and race-based earnings costs, 1970-1995," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(6), pages 401-404.
    12. Andrea Cutillo & Marco Centra, 2017. "Gender-Based Occupational Choices and Family Responsibilities: The Gender Wage Gap in Italy," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 1-31, October.
    13. Valientes, Rodger M., 2015. "Male-Female Wage-Gap Decomposition in Agriculture-Based Employment in the Philippines," Journal of Economics, Management & Agricultural Development, Journal of Economics, Management & Agricultural Development (JEMAD), vol. 1(01), June.
    14. Somasree Poddar & Ishita Mukhopadhyay, 2019. "Gender Wage Gap: Some Recent Evidences from India," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 17(1), pages 121-151, March.
    15. Dominique Meurs & Sophie Ponthieux, 2006. "L'écart des salaires entre les femmes et les hommes peut-il encore baisser ?," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 398(1), pages 99-129.
    16. Paternostro, Stefano & Sahn, David E., 1999. "Wage determination and gender discrimination in a transition economy : the case of Romania," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2113, The World Bank.
    17. Sergey Roshchin & Natalya Yemelina, 2021. "Gender wage gap decomposition methods: Comparative analysis," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 62, pages 5-31.
    18. C Dougherty, 2003. "Why is the Rate of Return to Schooling Higher For Women Than For Men?," CEP Discussion Papers dp0581, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    19. Javed Ashraf, 2011. "New Evidence On Rates Of Return To Education In Pakistan," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 5(3), pages 113-120.
    20. Almas Heshmati & Biwei Su, 2017. "Analysis Of Gender Wage Differential In China’S Urban Labor Market," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 62(02), pages 423-445, June.

    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:sae:ilrrev:v:49:y:1996:i:3:p:537-546. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu .

    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.