IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp18163.html

Exposing the Gap: Gender Inequality in Occupational Pension Coverage and Income Across Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Deschacht, Nick

    (KU Leuven)

  • Guillemyn, Inés

    (University of Antwerp)

  • Vujic, Suncica

    (University of Antwerp)

Abstract

Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARE), this paper examines occupational pension income and coverage gaps between men and women. The focus is on a group of countries with comparable occupational pension regulations: Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The results show that after accounting for observable characteristics, over half of the gender gap in occupational pension coverage is explained, largely driven by women’s shorter labour market participation, greater part-time work, and lower wages. Factors driving this gap remain constant across birth cohorts. Conditional on receiving an occupational pension, women receive nearly 40 percent less occupational pension income than men, partly due to part-time work and industry of employment. Selection into pension receipt has only a limited impact on the gender pension gap. While pension coverage gap decomposition shows little variation across countries, this is not the case for the gender pension gap, notably with cross-country differences in part-time work.

Suggested Citation

  • Deschacht, Nick & Guillemyn, Inés & Vujic, Suncica, 2025. "Exposing the Gap: Gender Inequality in Occupational Pension Coverage and Income Across Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 18163, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18163
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp18163.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joubert, Clement & Todd, Petra E., 2024. "Gender pension gaps in a private retirement accounts system: A dynamic model of household labor supply and savings," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 243(1).
    2. Ippolito, Richard A, 1985. "The Labor Contract and True Economic Pension Liabilities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(5), pages 1031-1043, December.
    3. Gianni Betti & Francesca Bettio & Thomas Georgiadis & Platon Tinios, 2015. "Unequal Ageing in Europe," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-38410-2, October.
    4. Alan L. Gustman & Olivia S. Mitchell & Thomas L. Steinmeier, 1994. "The Role of Pensions in the Labor Market: A Survey of the Literature," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 47(3), pages 417-438, April.
    5. Carla Rowold, 2024. "Housewives never retire!? Gender biases in popular sample definitions for studies on the elderly," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2024-025, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    6. 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.
    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. Bonnet, Carole & Meurs, Dominique & Rapoport, Benoit, 2022. "Gender pension gaps along the distribution: An application to the French case," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(1), pages 76-98, January.
    9. Therese Jefferson, 2009. "Women and Retirement Pensions: A Research Review," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 115-145.
    10. Butler, Monika & Teppa, Federica, 2007. "The choice between an annuity and a lump sum: Results from Swiss pension funds," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(10), pages 1944-1966, November.
    11. Elena Bardasi & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2010. "The Gender Gap In Private Pensions," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 343-363, October.
    12. Roberto Rocha & Dimitri Vittas & Heinz P. Rudolph, 2011. "Annuities and Other Retirement Products : Designing the Payout Phase," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2272, April.
    13. Damiaan H.J. Chen & Roel Beetsma, 2014. "Mandatory Participation in Occupational Pension Schemes in the Netherlands and other Countries," CESifo Working Paper Series 4593, CESifo.
    14. 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.
    15. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn & Nikolai Boboshko & Matthew Comey, 2024. "The Impact of Selection into the Labor Force on the Gender Wage Gap," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(4), pages 1093-1133.
    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. Mitchell, O.S. & Piggott, J., 2016. "Workplace-Linked Pensions for an Aging Demographic," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 865-904, Elsevier.
    2. Nolan, Anne & Whelan, Adele & McGuinness, Seamus & Maitre, Bertrand, 2019. "Gender, pensions and income in retirement," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS87.
    3. Li, Lilian & Cheng, Mingwang & Chen, Chunyan, 2025. "Gender wage gap of migrant workers and its root causes: Gender discrimination or labor endowment?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    4. Töpfer, Marina, 2017. "Detailed RIF decomposition with selection: The gender pay gap in Italy," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 26-2017, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    5. Monsueto, Sandro Eduardo & Simão, Rosycler Cristal Santos, 2008. "The impact of gender discrimination on poverty in Brazil," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), August.
    6. Jamie H. Douglas & Michael D. Steinberger, 2015. "The Sexual Orientation Wage Gap for Racial Minorities," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 59-108, January.
    7. Gómez-Echeverry, Santiago, 2024. "Within the cracks of the cosmic race: Income inequalities by race and ethnicity in Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    8. P.W. Miller & S. Rummery, 1989. "Gender Wage Discrimination in Australia: A reassessment," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 89-21, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    9. Shireen Kanji, 2011. "Labor Force Participation, Regional Location, and Economic Well-Being of Single Mothers in Russia," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 62-72, March.
    10. Philippe Adair & Oksana Nezhyvenko, 2020. "Wage Differentials in EU Transition Economies (2009-2016): How Large a Penalty for Females and Informal Employees?," Proceedings of Economics and Finance Conferences 10913129, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    11. Xinxin Ma & Peng Zhan, 2024. "Trade unions and the gender wage gap: evidence from China," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 2369430-236, December.
    12. Ceriani,Lidia & Inchauste Comboni,Maria Gabriela & Olivieri,Sergio Daniel, 2015. "Understanding poverty reduction in Sri Lanka : evidence from 2002 to 2012/13," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7446, The World Bank.
    13. Oscar Molina Tejerina & Luis Castro Peñarrieta, "undated". "Unexplained Wage Gaps in the Tradable and Nontradable Sectors: Cross-Sectional Evidence by Gender in Bolivia," Investigación & Desarrollo 0120, Universidad Privada Boliviana.
    14. Eva O. Arceo-Gomez & Pedro J. Torres L., 2021. "Brechas salariales por autoidentificacion indigena y rasgos lingüisticos en Mexico," Sobre México. Revista de Economía, Sobre México. Temas en economía, vol. 1(3), pages 129-161.
    15. Chzhen, Yekaterina & Mumford, Karen, 2011. "Gender gaps across the earnings distribution for full-time employees in Britain: Allowing for sample selection," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 837-844.
    16. Koumenta, Maria & Pagliero, Mario & Rostam-Afschar, Davud, 2020. "Occupational licensing and the gender wage gap," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 13-2020, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    17. Hansen, Henrik & Rand, John & Win, Ngu Wah, 2022. "The gender wage gap in Myanmar: Adding insult to injury?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    18. 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.
    19. Paez, Gustavo Nicolas & Tin, Myat Su, 2021. "Gender-based differences in Myanmar’s labor force," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    20. Nicodemo, Catia, 2009. "Gender Pay Gap and Quantile Regression in European Families," IZA Discussion Papers 3978, IZA Network @ LISER.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions

    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:iza:izadps:dp18163. 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: Mark Fallak (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaalu.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.