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Revisiting Occupational Segregation and the Valuation of Women’s Work

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  • Liepmann, Hannah

    (ILO International Labour Organization)

  • Hegewisch, Ariane

Abstract

While population ageing increases the demand for care work, new technologies, including AI, reinforce the importance of human interaction, with recent research finding significant wage premiums for social skills. Against this background, we investigate two factors behind the gender wage gap: occupational gender segregation and lower pay in female-dominated occupations, especially care work, where social skills are central. Using 1972-2024 CPS data, we show that occupational gender segregation remains pronounced in the United States, with many care occupations remaining female-dominated. This continues to correlate with lower wages. Conditional on observable characteristics, a 1 percentage point increase in the occupational share of women during 2015-24 was associated with a wage decrease of 0.22 percent for women and 0.20 percent for men. We then analyze whether returns to social skills are distorted in the care sector, where we hypothesize that the wage returns on workers' performance are lower due to the public-goods aspect of care work. Based on combined CPS and O*Net data, we investigate occupation-level skills returns for 2015-24. They are indeed insignificant for care workers but sizeable for business services workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Liepmann, Hannah & Hegewisch, Ariane, 2025. "Revisiting Occupational Segregation and the Valuation of Women’s Work," IZA Discussion Papers 18291, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18291
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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