Gender wage gap across the wage distribution in different segments of the Indian labour market, 1983–2012: exploring the glass ceiling or sticky floor phenomenon
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the gender wage gap in India across different segments of the labour market over the wage distribution using national-level representative data spanning the period 1983 to 2012.
Abstract: Women’s participation in the Indian labour market is not only low but they are also engaged in low-productivity and low-paying jobs. Further, the labour market is segmented by gender, type of employment, sector and location of residence. This study makes an important contribution by examining gender wage gap in India across different segments of the labour market over the wage distribution using national-level representative data spanning the period 1983 to 2012. The empirical results suggest that (i) the male–female raw wage gap has declined over time across the wage distribution, (ii) the gender wage gap attributable to differing returns to characteristics has increased over time and there is evidence of convergence of productive characteristics of men and women, (iii) sticky floor rather than glass ceiling phenomenon is observed in all segments of the labour market and (iv) the adjusted wage gap suggests that women at the bottom of the distribution face higher discrimination than those at the t...
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: The converging roles of men and women are among the grandest advances in society and the economy in the last century as discussed by the authors. But what must the last chapter contain for there to be equality in the labor market? The answer may come as a surprise.
Abstract: The converging roles of men and women are among the grandest advances in society and the economy in the last century. These aspects of the grand gender convergence are figurative chapters in a history of gender roles. But what must the “last” chapter contain for there to be equality in the labor market? The answer may come as a surprise. The solution does not (necessarily) have to involve government intervention and it need not make men more responsible in the home (although that wouldn't hurt). But it must involve changes in the labor market, especially how jobs are structured and remunerated to enhance temporal flexibility. The gender gap in pay would be considerably reduced and might vanish altogether if firms did not have an incentive to disproportionately reward individuals who labored long hours and worked particular hours. Such change has taken off in various sectors, such as technology, science, and health, but is less apparent in the corporate, financial, and legal worlds. (JEL J3, J16, ...
1,485 citations
TL;DR: This article found that gender differences in job preferences contribute 10% to the gender wage gap, which is more than job tenure, previous employment status or field of study, and the role of job preferences is particularly strong at the top of the wage distribution.
Abstract: The gender wage gap has declined over time. However, most of the remaining gap is unexplained, partly because of gender convergence in wage‐determining characteristics. In this paper, we show the degree of convergence differs substantially across Europe. In some countries, predominantly in Eastern Europe, the gender wage gap is entirely unexplained. However, in other countries, differences between the characteristics of men and women explain a relatively large proportion of the wage gap. Gender differences in job preferences contribute 10% to the wage gap, which is more than job tenure, previous employment status or field of study. The role of job preferences is particularly strong at the top of the wage distribution.
74 citations
Cites background from "Gender wage gap across the wage dis..."
...However, the portion of the gender wage gap explained by differences in characteristics between genders has also declined as a result of gender convergence in wage enhancing characteristics (Blau and Kahn, 2006 & 2016; Goldin, 2014; Duraisamy and Duraisamy, 2016; Kassenboehmer and Sinning, 2014)....
[...]
TL;DR: In this paper, a survey argues that after decades of seemingly continuous progress in reducing gender inequality in developing and developed countries, since about 2000, there has been an unexpected stagnation and regress in many dimensions of gender inequality.
26 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique and Heckman two-step methodology to measure the components of total gender wage gap, viz. occupational segregation and direct discrimination.
Abstract: Gender wage inequality is a chronic socioeconomic malice in developed as well as in developing countries. This paper describes the outcomes of our study on the estimation of gender wage gap in the Indian labour market, using the 68th Round NSSO employment–unemployment data. The study uses Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition technique and Heckman two-step methodology, for removal of selectivity bias in the sample data, to measure the components of total gender wage gap, viz. (1) occupational segregation (explained by economic rationale) and (2) direct discrimination (not explained by economic rationale). The analysis indicates that the maximum direct discrimination is for job-related factors, such as industry type which are controlled by employers. The majority of the Indian employers today are men, which may be the reason for the insensitivity to the chronic direct discrimination against women in workplaces. The study also indicates that most of the explained gender wage gap is due to lower skill and experience amongst women. The findings suggest that besides labour law reforms for ensuring gender neutrality in workplaces, focused government policies for promoting women entrepreneurship and skill development of women are urgently required for reducing the gender wage gap in India.
11 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated gender wage inequality in Sri Lanka during 1992-2014, a period of robust economic growth following pro-market reforms and found that the gender gap in mean wages between men and women decreased steadily over this period.
9 citations
References
More filters
TL;DR: In this article, the authors estimate the average extent of discrimination against female workers in the United States and provide a quantitative assessment of the sources of male-female wage differentials in the same occupation.
Abstract: CULTURE, TRADITION, AND OVERT DISCRIMINATION tend to make restrictive the terms by which women may participate in the labor force. These influences combine to generate an unfavorable occupational distribution of female workers vis-a-vis male workers and to create pay differences between males and females within the same occupation. The result is a chronic earnings gap between male and female full-time, year-round workers. Unfortunately, explanations at this level of generality are mainly descriptive. It is the purpose of this paper to estimate the average extent of discrimination against female workers in the United States and to provide a quantitative assessment of the sources of male-female wage differentials.
7,974 citations
"Gender wage gap across the wage dis..." refers methods in this paper
...In this study, we employ the Machado and Mata (2005) and Melly (2006) methods to decompose the gender wage gap over the wage distribution based on quantile regression and also report the results based on the widely used Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973) decomposition method....
[...]
...ods to decompose the gender wage gap over the wage distribution based on quantile regression and also report the results based on the widely used Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973) decomposition method....
[...]
TL;DR: In this paper, a distinction is drawn between reduced form and structural wage equations, and both are estimated They are shown to have very different implications for analyzing the white-black and male-female wage differentials.
Abstract: Regressions explaining the wage rates of white males, black males, and white females are used to analyze the white-black wage differential among men and the male-female wage differential among whites A distinction is drawn between reduced form and structural wage equations, and both are estimated They are shown to have very different implications for analyzing the white-black and male-female wage differentials When the two sets of estimates are synthesized, they jointly imply that 70 percent of the overall race differential and 100 percent of the overall sex differential are ultimately attributable to discrimination of various sorts
6,175 citations
"Gender wage gap across the wage dis..." refers methods in this paper
...In this study, we employ the Machado and Mata (2005) and Melly (2006) methods to decompose the gender wage gap over the wage distribution based on quantile regression and also report the results based on the widely used Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973) decomposition method....
[...]
TL;DR: The converging roles of men and women are among the grandest advances in society and the economy in the last century as discussed by the authors. But what must the last chapter contain for there to be equality in the labor market? The answer may come as a surprise.
Abstract: The converging roles of men and women are among the grandest advances in society and the economy in the last century. These aspects of the grand gender convergence are figurative chapters in a history of gender roles. But what must the “last” chapter contain for there to be equality in the labor market? The answer may come as a surprise. The solution does not (necessarily) have to involve government intervention and it need not make men more responsible in the home (although that wouldn't hurt). But it must involve changes in the labor market, especially how jobs are structured and remunerated to enhance temporal flexibility. The gender gap in pay would be considerably reduced and might vanish altogether if firms did not have an incentive to disproportionately reward individuals who labored long hours and worked particular hours. Such change has taken off in various sectors, such as technology, science, and health, but is less apparent in the corporate, financial, and legal worlds. (JEL J3, J16, ...
1,485 citations
"Gender wage gap across the wage dis..." refers background in this paper
...The unexplained component is attributed to discrimination (bias or prejudice) against women, their lower ability to bargain and lesser desire to compete (Goldin 2014)....
[...]
...In the USA, women’s earnings were only 72% of men’s earnings in 2010 (Goldin 2014)....
[...]
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a guideline for the practical use of the semi-parametric technique of quantile regression, concentrating on cross-section applications and provide an empirical example using data from the Current Population Survey.
Abstract: This paper provides a guideline for the practical use of the semi-parametric technique of quantile regression, concentrating on cross-section applications. It summarizes the most important issues in quantile regression applications and fills some gaps in the literature. The paper (a) presents several alternative estimators for the covariance matrix of the quantile regression estimates; (b) reviews the results for a sequence of quantile regression estimates; and (c) discusses testing procedures for homoskedasticity and symmetry of the error distribution. The various results in the literature are incorporated into the generalized method of moments frame-work. The paper also provides an empirical example using data from the Current Population Survey, raising several important issues relevant to empirical applications of quantile regression. The paper concludes with an extension to the censored quantile regression model.
1,479 citations
Additional excerpts
...Following Buchinsky (1998), the θth (0 < θ < 1) conditional quantile of the log daily wage distribution is specified as Quantθ lnWijjXij ¼ X0Iβj θð Þ; j ¼ m; f (3) implying lnWij ¼ X0ijβj θð Þ þ εij;with Quantθ εijXij ¼ 0 (4) 9Potential experience does not account for the time taken off from work…...
[...]
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a method to decompose the changes in the wage distribution over a period of time in several factors contributing to those changes, such as changes in characteristics of the working population and changes in returns to these characteristics.
Abstract: We propose a method to decompose the changes in the wage distribution over a period of time in several factors contributing to those changes. The method is based on the estimation of marginal wage distributions consistent with a conditional distribution estimated by quantile regression as well as with any hypothesized distribution for the covariates. Comparing the marginal distributions implied by different distributions for the covariates, one is then able to perform counterfactual exercises. The proposed methodology enables the identification of the sources of the increased wage inequality observed in most countries. Specifically, it decomposes the changes in the wage distribution over a period of time into several factors contributing to those changes, namely by discriminating between changes in the characteristics of the working population and changes in the returns to these characteristics. We apply this methodology to Portuguese data for the period 1986–1995, and find that the observed increase in educational levels contributed decisively towards greater wage inequality. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
1,453 citations
"Gender wage gap across the wage dis..." refers background or methods in this paper
...The Machado and Mata (2005) decomposition of the log gender wage gap across the distribution is written as...
[...]
...In this study, we employ the Machado and Mata (2005) and Melly (2006) methods to decompose the gender wage gap over the wage distribution based on quantile regression and also report the results based on the widely used Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973) decomposition method....
[...]
...In this study, we employ the Machado and Mata (2005) and Melly (2006) meth-...
[...]
...In the estimation, the procedure developed by Melly (2006) is used which is numerically identical to Machado and Mata (2005) estimator as the number of simulations tends to infinity....
[...]
...In the estimation, the procedure developed by Melly (2006) is used which is numerically identical to Machado and Mata (2005) estimator as the number of simulations tends to infinity.12 The first term on the right-hand side of the Equation (5) denotes the effects of coefficients (adjusted wage gap)…...
[...]