Gender Pay Gap in Poland |
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Authors: | Micha Grajek |
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Institution: | (1) Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB), SPII/2 (WIW), Reichpietschufer 50, 10785 Berlin, Germany |
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Abstract: | In this paper we examine the gender pay gap in Poland over 1987–1996, i.e., shortly before and during the transition to market
economy. The principle source of data used throughout the paper is the Household Budget Survey conducted by the Polish Central
Statistical Office. The study documents three major results. First, the transition to market economy in Poland favored women
substantially in terms of relative earnings differentials. The gender pay gap decreased by 10.2 log% points and the position
of mean female in male wage distribution went up by 9.9 percentiles over 1987–1996. By 1995, the values of these measures
reached the level observed in industrial economies such as the U.K., Austria, Italy or Australia. Second, rising relative
skills of women and rising returns to skills explain about half of the fall in the gender pay gap over 1987–1996. Third, the
pay gap did not follow a smooth adjustment process. 1989, the year of the first democratic parliamentary elections, which
resulted in forming the first non-communist government, saw the most spectacular change, although actual market reforms began
one year after. The changes in the early phase of the transition were mostly driven by sudden shifts in relative wages and
employment across industries. Afterwards, the pay gap measures stabilized, partly because rising overall wage inequalities
offset the advantages of females due to observed skills.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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Keywords: | decomposition earnings differentials gender planned economy Poland transition economy |
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