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Labor of Love: Gender and Wage Dynamics Across the Stages of Life

Author

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  • Li, Shurui

    (Department of Economics, Umeå University)

Abstract

This paper examines how fertility events contribute to the gender pay gap in a framework that integrates a life-cycle model with a search and matching model featuring endogenous job matching and wage bargaining. The model represents four fertility-related life-cycle stages, each of which is associated with distinct labor market behaviors and constraints. This paper highlights the role of first-birth timing, parental leave, and job amenity preferences in shaping gender gaps in human capital accumulation and career trajectories. Counterfactual simulations show that delaying the first birth and shortening parental leave substantially improve women’s trajectories of wages and promotions. Equalizing amenity preferences between genders, though not efficiency-enhancing, significantly raises women’s representation in high-paying jobs and promotes greater structural equality in the labor market. The framework provides a structural lens to assess how demographic shocks interact with search frictions and amenity preferences to produce enduring gender gaps in the labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Shurui, 2026. "Labor of Love: Gender and Wage Dynamics Across the Stages of Life," Umeå Economic Studies 1042, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:umnees:1042
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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