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The Gender Pay Gap in the Australian Private Sector: Is Selection Relevant across the Wage Distribution?

Author

Listed:
  • Chzhen, Yekaterina

    (University of Oxford)

  • Mumford, Karen A.

    (University of York)

  • Nicodemo, Catia

    (University of Oxford)

Abstract

We use quantile regression and counterfactual decomposition methods to explore gender gaps across the earning distribution for full-time employees in the Australian private sector. Significant evidence of a self selection effect for women into full-time employment (or of components of self selection related to observable or unobservable characteristics) is, interestingly, not found to be relevant in the Australian context. Substantial gender earnings gaps (and glass ceilings) are established, with these earnings gaps found to be predominantly related to women receiving lower returns to their observable characteristics than men.

Suggested Citation

  • Chzhen, Yekaterina & Mumford, Karen A. & Nicodemo, Catia, 2012. "The Gender Pay Gap in the Australian Private Sector: Is Selection Relevant across the Wage Distribution?," IZA Discussion Papers 6558, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6558
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jenny Gordon, 2012. "Wages in Managed Markets: An Explanation of the Gender Wage Gap?," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 45(2), pages 216-231, June.
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    3. Hiau Joo Kee, 2006. "Glass Ceiling or Sticky Floor? Exploring the Australian Gender Pay Gap," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 82(259), pages 408-427, December.
    4. Kidd, Michael P & Viney, Rosalie, 1991. "Sex Discrimination and Non-random Sampling in the Australian Labour Market," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(56), pages 28-49, June.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Moshe Buchinsky, 1998. "The dynamics of changes in the female wage distribution in the USA: a quantile regression approach," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(1), pages 1-30.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. Paul Gregg & Maria Gutiérrez‐Domènech & Jane Waldfogel, 2007. "The Employment of Married Mothers in Great Britain, 1974–2000," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(296), pages 842-864, November.
    11. Ian Watson, 2010. "Decomposing the Gender Pay Gap in the Australian Managerial Labour Market," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 13(1), pages 49-79.
    12. Miller, Paul & Rummery, Sarah, 1991. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Australia: A Reassessment," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(56), pages 50-69, June.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jan Kluge & Michael Weber, 2015. "Decomposing the German East-West wage gap," ifo Working Paper Series 205, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    2. Carla Canelas & Silvia Salazar, 2014. "Gender and Ethnicity in Bolivia, Ecuador and Guatemala," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 14021, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    3. Carla Canelas & Silvia Salazar, 2014. "Gender and ethnic inequalities in LAC countries," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Carla Canelas & Silvia Salazar, 2014. "Gender and Ethnic Inequalities in LAC Countries," Post-Print halshs-00973891, HAL.
    5. Taiwo Aderemi & Ibrahim Alley, 2019. "Gender pay gap in the workplace: the case of public and private sectors in Nigeria," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 21(2), pages 370-391, December.
    6. Carla Canelas & Silvia Salazar, 2014. "Gender and Ethnic Inequalities in LAC Countries," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 14021r, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, revised Jul 2014.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    earnings; selection; quantile distribution; gender;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination

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