IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp985.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

When Are ‘Female’ Occupations Paying More?

Author

Listed:
  • Jurajda, Štepán

    (CERGE-EI)

  • Harmgart, Heike

    (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)

Abstract

We compare the importance of occupational gender segregation for the gender wage gap in East and West Germany in 1995 using a sample of social-security wage records of full-time workers. East Germany, which features a somewhat higher degree of occupational segregation, has a gender wage gap on the order of one fifth of the West German gap. Segregation is not related to the West German wage gap, but in East Germany, wages of both men and women are higher in predominantly female occupations. East German female employees apparently have better observable and unobservable characteristics than their male colleagues. These findings are in contrast to a large U.S. literature, but are consistent with the imposition of high wage levels in East Germany at the outset of reforms and the selection of only high-skill women into employment. Finally, conditioning on unobservable labor quality differences using the longitudinal dimension of the data, there is a negligible impact of segregation in both parts of Germany.

Suggested Citation

  • Jurajda, Štepán & Harmgart, Heike, 2004. "When Are ‘Female’ Occupations Paying More?," IZA Discussion Papers 985, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp985
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp985.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Kremer, 1993. "The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 551-575.
    2. Giuseppe Bertola & Francine Blau & Lawrence Kahn, 2007. "Labor market institutions and demographic employment patterns," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 20(4), pages 833-867, October.
    3. Elizabeth Brainerd, 2000. "Women in Transition: Changes in Gender Wage Differentials in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 54(1), pages 138-162, October.
    4. Bonin, Holger & Euwals, Rob, 2001. "Participation Behavior of East German Women after German Unification," IZA Discussion Papers 413, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Brainerd, Elizabeth, 1998. "Winners and Losers in Russia's Economic Transition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(5), pages 1094-1116, December.
    6. Mark R. Killingsworth, 1990. "The Economics of Comparable Worth," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number ecw, November.
    7. Jennifer Hunt, 2002. "The Transition in East Germany: When Is a Ten-Point Fall in the Gender Wage Gap Bad News?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(1), pages 148-169, January.
    8. 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.
    9. Robert Gibbons & Lawrence Katz, 1992. "Does Unmeasured Ability Explain Inter-Industry Wage Differentials?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(3), pages 515-535.
    10. Kimberly Bayard & Judith Hellerstein & David Neumark & Kenneth Troske, 2003. "New Evidence on Sex Segregation and Sex Differences in Wages from Matched Employee-Employer Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(4), pages 887-922, October.
    11. Pannenberg, Markus, 2002. "Long-Term Effects of Unpaid Overtime: Evidence for West Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 614, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Erica L. Groshen, 1991. "The Structure of the Female/Male Wage Differential: Is It Who You Are, What You Do, or Where You Work?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 26(3), pages 457-472.
    13. Richard B. Freeman & Ronald Schettkat, 2000. "The Role of Wage and Skill Differences in US-German Employment Differences," NBER Working Papers 7474, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Jolliffe, Dean, 2002. "The Gender Wage Gap in Bulgaria: A Semiparametric Estimation of Discrimination," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 276-295, June.
    15. Randall K. Filer, 1986. "The Role of Personality and Tastes in Determining Occupational Structure," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 39(3), pages 412-424, April.
    16. Oaxaca, Ronald L. & Ransom, Michael R., 1994. "On discrimination and the decomposition of wage differentials," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 5-21, March.
    17. Jurajda, Stepan, 2003. "Gender wage gap and segregation in enterprises and the public sector in late transition countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 199-222, June.
    18. Wolf, Elke, 2002. "Lower wage rates for fewer hours? A simultaneous wage-hours model for Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(5), pages 643-663, November.
    19. 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.
    20. Nicole M. Fortin & Michael Baker, 1999. "Women's Wages in Women's Work: A U.S./Canada Comparison of the Roles of Unions and "Public Goods" Sector Jobs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 198-203, May.
    21. Macpherson, David A & Hirsch, Barry T, 1995. "Wages and Gender Composition: Why Do Women's Jobs Pay Less?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(3), pages 426-471, July.
    22. William T. Dickens & Brian A. Ross, 1984. "Consistent Estimation Using Data From More Than One Sample," NBER Technical Working Papers 0033, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Michael C. Burda & Jennifer Hunt, 2001. "From Reunification to Economic Integration: Productivity and the Labor Market in Eastern Germany," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 32(2), pages 1-92.
    24. Blau Francine D & Kahn Lawrence M, 2007. "The Gender Pay Gap," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 4(4), pages 1-6, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Görlich, D. & de Grip, A., 2007. "Human capital depreciation during family-related career interruptions in male and female occupations," ROA Research Memorandum 007, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).

    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. Jurajda, Stepan & Harmgart, Heike, 2007. "When do female occupations pay more?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 170-187, March.
    2. Andrén, Daniela & Andrén, Thomas, 2007. "Occupational gender composition and wages in Romania: from planned equality to market inequality?," Working Papers in Economics 261, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    3. Stepan Jurajda & Heike Harmgart, 2002. "Sex Segregation and Wage Gaps in East and West Germany," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp202, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    4. Stepan Jurajda, 2000. "Gender Wage Gap and Segregation in Late Transition," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 306, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    5. Daniela Andrén & Thomas Andrén, 2015. "Gender and occupational wage gaps in Romania: from planned equality to market inequality?," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-27, December.
    6. Jurajda, Stepan, 2003. "Gender wage gap and segregation in enterprises and the public sector in late transition countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 199-222, June.
    7. Thomas Dohmen & Hartmut Lehmann & Anzelika Zaiceva, 2008. "The Gender Earnings Gap inside a Russian Firm: First Evidence from Personnel Data - 1997 to 2002 ; Updated Version," ESCIRRU Working Papers 6, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    8. Barry T. Hirsch & David A. Macpherson, 2004. "Wages, Sorting on Skill, and the Racial Composition of Jobs," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(1), pages 189-210, January.
    9. Cristiano Perugini & Ekaterina Selezneva, 2015. "Labour market institutions, crisis and gender earnings gap in Eastern Europe," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 23(3), pages 517-564, July.
    10. 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.
    11. Jolliffe, Dean & Campos, Nauro F., 2005. "Does market liberalisation reduce gender discrimination? Econometric evidence from Hungary, 1986-1998," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, February.
    12. Ganguli, Ina & Terrell, Katherine, 2005. "Wage Ceilings and Floors: The Gender Gap in Ukraine's Transition," IZA Discussion Papers 1776, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Norberto Pignatti, 2012. "Gender wage gap dynamics in a changing Ukraine," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-44, December.
    14. Hipólito Simón, 2012. "The gender gap in earnings: an international comparison with European matched employer--employee data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(15), pages 1985-1999, May.
    15. Pham, Thai-Hung & Reilly, Barry, 2007. "The gender pay gap in Vietnam, 1993-2002: A quantile regression approach," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 775-808, October.
    16. Dohmen, Thomas & Lehmann, Hartmut & Zaiceva, Anzelika, 2008. "The gender earnings gap inside a Russian firm : first evidence from personnel data - 1997 to 2002," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 41(2/3), pages 157-179.
    17. 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.
    18. Ying Chu Ng, 2006. "Gender Earnings Differentials and Regional Economic Development in Urban China, 1988-97," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-136, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. Johnes, Geraint, 2002. "A Tajik story: the labour market following war and transition," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 17-30, April.
    20. Michael Baker & Nicole Fortin, 2000. "Comparable Worth Comes to the Private Sector: The Case of Ontario," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 0266, Econometric Society.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender wage gap; occupational segregation;

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

    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:dp985. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.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.