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Occupational Licensing and the Gender Wage Gap

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  • Pagliero, Mario
  • Koumenta, Maria
  • Rostam-Afschar, Davud

Abstract

We use a unique survey of the EU labor force to investigate the relationship between occupational licensing and the gender wage gap. We find that the gender wage gap is canceled for licensed self-employed workers. However, this closure of the gender wage gap is not mirrored by significant changes in the gender gap in hours worked. Our results are robust using decomposition methods, quantile regressions, different datasets, and selection correction.

Suggested Citation

  • Pagliero, Mario & Koumenta, Maria & Rostam-Afschar, Davud, 2020. "Occupational Licensing and the Gender Wage Gap," CEPR Discussion Papers 15338, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15338
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Occupational licensing; Gender gap; Wages;
    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
    • J44 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Professional Labor Markets and Occupations
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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