IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/inq/inqwps/ecineq2006-25.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The measurement of gender wage discrimination: The distributional approach revisited

Author

Listed:
  • Coral del Río

    (Universidade de Vigo (Spain))

  • Carlos Gradín

    (Universidade de Vigo (Spain))

  • Olga Cantó

    (Universidade de Vigo (Spain))

Abstract

This paper presents the advantages of taking into account the distribution of the individual wage gap when analyzing female wage discrimination. The limitations of previous approaches such as the classic Oaxaca-Blinder and the recent distributive proposals using quantile regressions or counterfactual functions are thoroughly discussed. The new methodology presented here relies on Jenkins' (1994) work and proposes the use of poverty and deprivation literature techniques that are directly applicable to the measurement of discrimination. In an empirical application, we quantify the relevance of the glass ceiling and sticky floor phenomena in the Spanish labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Coral del Río & Carlos Gradín & Olga Cantó, 2006. "The measurement of gender wage discrimination: The distributional approach revisited," Working Papers 25, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
  • Handle: RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2006-25
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ecineq.org/milano/WP/ECINEQ2006-25.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. DiNardo, John & Fortin, Nicole M & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Labor Market Institutions and the Distribution of Wages, 1973-1992: A Semiparametric Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(5), pages 1001-1044, September.
    2. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-766, May.
    3. 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.
    4. Stephen G. Donald & David A. Green & Harry J. Paarsch, 2000. "Differences in Wage Distributions Between Canada and the United States: An Application of a Flexible Estimator of Distribution Functions in the Presence of Covariates," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 67(4), pages 609-633.
    5. Blau, Francine D & Kahn, Lawrence M, 1997. "Swimming Upstream: Trends in the Gender Wage Differential in 1980s," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 1-42, January.
    6. Newell, Andrew & Reilly, Barry, 2001. "The gender pay gap in the transition from communism: some empirical evidence," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 287-304, December.
    7. Carlos Gradin & Coral del Rio & Olga Canto, 2010. "Gender Wage Discrimination and Poverty in the EU," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 73-109.
    8. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1.
    9. José Mata & José A. F. Machado, 2005. "Counterfactual decomposition of changes in wage distributions using quantile regression," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(4), pages 445-465.
    10. Wiji Arulampalam & Alison L. Booth & Mark L. Bryan, 2007. "Is There a Glass Ceiling over Europe? Exploring the Gender Pay Gap across the Wage Distribution," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 60(2), pages 163-186, January.
    11. Dorothe Bonjour & Michael Gerfin, 2001. "The unequal distribution of unequal pay - An empirical analysis of the gender wage gap in Switzerland," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 407-427.
    12. Buchinsky, Moshe, 1994. "Changes in the U.S. Wage Structure 1963-1987: Application of Quantile Regression," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 405-458, March.
    13. Christopher J. Gerry & Byung-Yeon Kim & Carmen A Li, 2004. "The gender wage gap and wage arrears in Russia: Evidence from the RLMS," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 17(2), pages 267-288, June.
    14. James Albrecht & Anders Bjorklund & Susan Vroman, 2003. "Is There a Glass Ceiling in Sweden?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 145-177, January.
    15. Albrecht, James & van Vuuren, Aico & Vroman, Susan, 2004. "Decomposing the Gender Wage Gap in the Netherlands with Sample Selection Adjustments," IZA Discussion Papers 1400, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-442, June.
    17. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling and Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 41-63, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Barry Reilly, 1999. "The gender pay gap in Russia during the transition, 1992‐96," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 7(1), pages 245-264, March.
    19. de la Rica, Sara & Dolado, Juan J. & Llorens, Vanesa, 2005. "Ceiling and Floors: Gender Wage Gaps by Education in Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 1483, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Kunze, Astrid, 2000. "The Determination of Wages and the Gender Wage Gap: A Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 193, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2003. "Understanding International Differences in the Gender Pay Gap," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 106-144, January.
    22. repec:bla:econom:v:63:y:1996:i:250:p:s29-62 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Sara Rica & Juan Dolado & Vanesa Llorens, 2008. "Ceilings or floors? Gender wage gaps by education in Spain," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 21(3), pages 751-776, July.
    24. repec:bla:jecsur:v:11:y:1997:i:2:p:123-62 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Buhong Zheng, 1997. "Aggregate Poverty Measures," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), pages 123-162, June.
    26. Albrecht, James & van Vuuren, Aico & Vroman, Susan, 2009. "Counterfactual distributions with sample selection adjustments: Econometric theory and an application to the Netherlands," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 383-396, August.
    27. Björn Gustafsson & Shi Li, 2000. "Economic transformation and the gender earnings gap in urban China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 13(2), pages 305-329.
    28. Booth, Alison L. & Francesconi, Marco & Frank, Jeff, 2003. "A sticky floors model of promotion, pay, and gender," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 295-322, April.
    29. Denny, K-J & Harmon, C-P & Roche, M-J, 1997. "The Distribution of Discrimination in Immigrant Earnings : Evidence from Britain 1974-1993," Papers 97/21, College Dublin, Department of Political Economy-.
    30. Hagenaars, Aldi J M, 1987. "A Class of Poverty Indices," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 28(3), pages 583-607, October.
    31. Jörgen Hansen & Roger Wahlberg, 2005. "Endogenous schooling and the distribution of the gender wage gap," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 1-22, January.
    32. Jenkins, Stephen P., 1994. "Earnings discrimination measurement : A distributional approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 81-102, March.
    33. Nicole M. Fortin & Thomas Lemieux, 1998. "Rank Regressions, Wage Distributions, and the Gender Gap," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(3), pages 610-643.
    34. Shorrocks, Anthony F, 1993. "On the measurement of unemployment," Economics Discussion Papers 10017, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    35. James Albrecht & Aico van Vuuren, 2004. "Gender Wage Gaps in the Netherlands with Sample Selection Adjustments," Econometric Society 2004 North American Winter Meetings 504, Econometric Society.
    36. Sen, Amartya K, 1976. "Poverty: An Ordinal Approach to Measurement," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(2), pages 219-231, March.
    37. Kevin J Denny; & Colm P Harmon: & Maurice Roche, 1997. "The Distribution of Discrimination in Immigrant Earnings- Evidence from Britain 1974-93," Economics Department Working Paper Series n690897, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    38. José A. F. Machado & José Mata, 2001. "Earning functions in Portugal 1982-1994: Evidence from quantile regressions," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 115-134.
    39. Javier Gardeazabal & Arantza Ugidos, 2005. "Gender wage discrimination at quantiles," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(1), pages 165-179, July.
    40. repec:bla:jecsur:v:14:y:2000:i:4:p:427-66 is not listed on IDEAS
    41. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:693-785 is not listed on IDEAS
    42. Jenkins, Stephen P & Lambert, Peter J, 1997. "Three 'I's of Poverty Curves, with an Analysis of UK Poverty Trends," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 49(3), pages 317-327, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items 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. Coral del Río Otero & Carlos Gradín Lago & Olga Cantó Sánchez, 2004. "El enfoque distributivo en el análisis de la discriminación salarial por razón de género," Working Papers 0405, Universidade de Vigo, Departamento de Economía Aplicada.
    2. Heinze, Anja, 2010. "Beyond the mean gender wage gap: Decomposition of differences in wage distributions using quantile regression," ZEW Discussion Papers 10-043, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Philippe Van Kerm, 2013. "Generalized measures of wage differentials," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 465-482, August.
    4. Picchio, Matteo & Mussida, Chiara, 2011. "Gender wage gap: A semi-parametric approach with sample selection correction," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 564-578, October.
    5. Antonczyk, Dirk & Fitzenberger, Bernd & Sommerfeld, Katrin, 2010. "Rising wage inequality, the decline of collective bargaining, and the gender wage gap," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 835-847, October.
    6. Tindara Addabbo & Donata Favaro & Stefano Magrini, 2010. "Gender differences in productivity rewards in Italy: the role of human capital," Working Papers 2010_11, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    7. Tindara ADDABBO & Donata Favaro, 2007. "Education and wage differentials by gender in Italy," CHILD Working Papers wp04_07, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY.
    8. Arceo-Gómez, Eva O. & Campos-Vázquez, Raymundo M., 2014. "Evolución de la brecha salarial de género en México," El Trimestre Económico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, vol. 0(323), pages .619-653, julio-sep.
    9. Boll Christina & Rossen Anja & Wolf André, 2017. "The EU Gender Earnings Gap: Job Segregation and Working Time as Driving Factors," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 237(5), pages 407-452, October.
    10. Jacqueline Mosomi, 2019. "Distributional changes in the gender wage gap in the post-apartheid South African labour market," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-17, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Firpo, Sergio, 2011. "Decomposition Methods in Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 1, pages 1-102, Elsevier.
    12. Dileni Gunewardena & Darshi Abeyrathna & Amalie Ellagala & Kamani Rajakaruna & Shobana Rajendran, 2008. "Glass Ceilings, Sticky Floors or Sticky Doors? A Quantile Regression Approach to Exploring Gender Wage Gaps in Sri Lanka," Working Papers PMMA 2008-04, PEP-PMMA.
    13. Landmesser Joanna Małgorzata, 2018. "The Use of Hazard Models for the Analysis of Income Inequalities in Poland," Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia, Sciendo, vol. 18(1), pages 144-156, June.
    14. Andreas Behr & Ulrich Pötter, 2009. "Analysing Wage Differences between the USA and Germany Using Proportional Hazards Models," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 23(2), pages 319-347, June.
    15. Astrid Kunze, 2008. "Gender wage gap studies: consistency and decomposition," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 63-76, August.
    16. Juan D. Barón & Deborah A. Cobb‐Clark, 2010. "Occupational Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap in Private‐ and Public‐Sector Employment: A Distributional Analysis," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 86(273), pages 227-246, June.
    17. Inés P. Murillo & Hipólito Simón, 2014. "La Gran Recesión y el diferencial salarial por género en España," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 208(1), pages 39-76, March.
    18. Tindara Addabbo & Donata Favaro & Stefano Magrini, 2012. "Gender differences in productivity rewards: the role of human capital," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 59(1), pages 81-110, March.
    19. Azam, Mehtabul, 2012. "Changes in Wage Structure in Urban India, 1983–2004: A Quantile Regression Decomposition," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1135-1150.
    20. Zheng Fang & Chris Sakellariou, 2011. "A Case of Sticky Floors: Gender Wage Differentials in Thailand," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 25(1), pages 35-54, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    children distributive analysis; economics of gender; wage discrimination; glass ceiling; sticky floor.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:inq:inqwps:ecineq2006-25. 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: Maria Ana Lugo (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ecineea.html .

    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.