When do female occupations pay more?

Citation:

Jurajda, Stepan; & Harmgart, Heike. (2007). When do female occupations pay more? Journal of Comparative Economics, 35(1), 170-187.

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Abstract:

Highly female occupations typically offer low pay. Although occupational gender segregation is a leading explanation for the gender wage gap, its effects are not fully understood. In this paper, we use a 1995 sample of social-security wage records of full-time German workers to show that, in East Germany, predominantly female occupations actually pay more to both men and women and that no relationship exists between occupation-specific concentration of women and wages in West Germany. Relying on workers who change occupations to condition fully on unobservable skills, we find a negligible wage impact of segregation. These findings are consistent with the imposition of high wage levels in East Germany at the outset of reforms and the selection of mainly high-skill women into employment. Linking our results with evidence from the US and post-communist countries suggests an important role for the participation of low-skill women in employment for the observed wage penalty to female occupations.

URL:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2006.09.001

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Reference Type:
JOUR

Secondary Title:

Series Title:

Author(s):
Jurajda, Stepan
Harmgart, Heike

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Year Published:
2007

Date Published:

Journal Name:
Journal of Comparative Economics

Volume Number:
35

Issue Number:
1

Start Page Number:
170-187

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ISSN/ISBN:
0147-5967

DOI:
10.1016/j.jce.2006.09.001

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Reference ID:
1305

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