The Sexual Orientation Wage Gap for Racial Minorities

We explore the sexual orientation wage gap across four race and ethnic groups in the 2000 U.S. Census: Asian, black, Hispanic, and white. Using decomposition analysis, we explore if racial minority groups experience the same pattern of sexual orientation wage differences as their white counterparts, and how racial and sexual orientation wage differences interact over the distribution of wages. For men, we show a combined unexplained penalty greater than the sum of their individual unexplained race and sexual‐orientation differentials. Racial minority lesbians, however, earn higher wages than what the sum of their racial and sexual‐orientation analyses would suggest.     

Does Individualizing the Labor Contract Hurt Women?

The twenty‐first century has been marked by a retreat of the collective bargaining rights of public employees throughout the United States. This study exploits the variation in legal environments resulting from these reforms to estimate the causal impact of different collective bargaining policies on public employee compensation. Using data from the American Community Survey, results show a modest wage penalty at the aggregate level for employees covered by constraints on collective bargaining. However, this wage penalty is differential and is concentrated on women in all but one case—a legal environment in which collective bargaining over wages has either been prohibited or directly constricted, allowing governments to periodically institute wage freezes and caps on raises for public employees. In this case, a pre‐existing wage gap in which men earned more than women is disappearing as male and female earnings converge at a lower wage. The paper suggests that the long‐term effects of restricting collective bargaining occur through the individualization of the labor contract and should be examined along individual‐level characteristics, such as gender.     

The Financial Costs of Caring in the British Labour Market: Is There a Wage Penalty for Workers in Caring Occupations?

Recent evidence from the USA suggests that people engaged in occupations involving providing care for others, such as childcare and teaching, suffer a wage penalty. After taking into account job and individual characteristics such as level of education and work experience, people in these occupations in the American study earned about 6 per cent less than their peers in other types of occupation. However, we do not yet know if people working in similar occupations in other countries also suffer the same degree of disadvantage. The issue is important because, despite the perception that people in caring jobs place a relatively low weight on the level of remuneration when making career decisions, a number of studies have shown clear evidence of an association between pay and the propensity to give up working in a caring occupation. There are implications too for social inequality as many caring jobs are done by women and associated wage penalties could contribute to the persistent gender gap in pay. This study compares and contrasts the predictions of neoclassical economics, cultural feminist theory and social closure theory. Data are taken from 17 waves of the British Household Panel Survey and include a total of 23,773 individuals, giving 110,677 person‐year observations. These data are analysed using multi‐level linear regression. The results show clear evidence of a statistically significant wage penalty associated with working in some caring occupations. Those occupations requiring lower levels of educational qualification, such as nursing assistants and auxiliaries, are particularly hard‐hit by the wage penalty. On the other hand, some occupations, such as medicine and teaching, have fared better than comparable non‐caring occupations over the same period. We discuss the implications of these results for the gender gap in pay, poverty, social inequality and the future supply of caring workers.     

Upstreamness,Wages and Gender: Equal Benefits for All?

This article provides first evidence on the impact of a direct measure of firm‐level upstreamness (i.e. the steps before the production of a firm meets final demand) on workers’ wages. It also investigates whether results vary along the earnings distribution and by gender. Findings, based on unique matched employer–employee data relative to the Belgian manufacturing industry for the period 2002–2010, show that workers earn significantly higher wages when employed in more upstream firms. Yet, the gains from upstreamness are found to be very unequally shared among workers. Unconditional quantile estimates suggest that male top earners are the main beneficiaries, whereas women, irrespective of their earnings, appear to be unfairly rewarded. Quantile decompositions further show that these differences in wage premia account for a substantial part of the gender wage gap, especially at the top of the earnings distribution.     

The role of the workplace in ethnic wage differentials

Using linked employer–employee data for Britain, we examine ethnic wage differentials among full-time employees. We find substantial ethnic segregation across workplaces. However, this inter-workplace segregation does not contribute to the aggregate wage penalty in Britain. Instead, most of the ethnic wage gap exists within the workplace, between observationally-equivalent co-workers. Lower pay satisfaction and higher levels of skill mismatch among ethnic minority workers are consistent with discrimination in wage-setting on the part of employers. The presence of recognized trade unions and the use of job evaluation schemes within the workplace are associated with a smaller ethnic wage gap. These findings indicate that more attention should be placed on ensuring fairness in wage determination.     

Gender Differences in the Returns to and the Acquisition of On-the-Job Training

This article finds that gender differences in on-the-job training significantly affect the male/female wage gap. First, we find that previously trained workers exhibit larger cumulative wage gains during their current training. Thus, a substantial portion of the gender wage gap results from the fact that women have little prior training relative to men. Second, a significant amount of the observed male/female wage differential is explained by less female acquisition of current training. Gender differences in workplace promotion and training practices help explain why women accumulate less training than men. Both of these sources of gender differences have lessened from 1976 to 1985, which has led to a narrowing of the male/female wage gap.     

Does an Advanced Degree Reduce the Gender Wage Gap? Evidence from MBAs

This article uses a longitudinal survey of registrants for the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) to compare the gender wage gap among MBA recipients with the gap among nonrecipients. We find evidence that the gender wage gap is lower among GMAT takers who obtained the MBA than among those who did not. This suggests that women with advanced degrees may face less discrimination in labor markets.     

Fluidity in Sexual Identity,Unmeasured Heterogeneity,and the Earnings Effects of Sexual Orientation

Using data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study (1) examines the sensitivity of the estimated earnings penalty of sexual minority status to family‐level unobserved heterogeneity, and (2) explores whether the earnings effects of sexual orientation differ by the degree of fluidity in individuals' self‐reported sexual identity over time. Evidence from sibling pairs suggests that unobserved family heterogeneity is not an important source of bias in the estimated relationship between sexual orientation and young adult earnings. I find that gay males and bisexuals earn lower wages than their heterosexual counterparts, while lesbians earn wages that are not significantly different from heterosexual females. Finally, I examine the role of fluidity in sexual orientation over time and find that males who are longer‐term gay identifiers earn wages that are 26.4 percent lower than their consistently heterosexual‐identifying counterparts.     

The Institutional Context of an ‘Empirical Law’: The Wage Curve under Different Regimes of Collective Bargaining

The wage curve postulates that the wage level is a decreasing function of the regional unemployment rate. In testing this hypothesis, most studies have not taken into account that differences in the institutional framework may have an impact on the existence (or the slope) of a wage curve. Using a large‐scale linked employer–employee dataset for Western Germany, this article provides a first direct test of the relevance of different bargaining regimes (and of works councils) for the existence of a wage curve. In pooled regressions for the period 1998 to 2006, as well as in worker‐level or plant‐level fixed‐effects estimations, we obtain evidence for a wage curve for plants with a collective bargaining agreement at firm level. The point estimates for this group of plants are close to the ?0.1 elasticity of wages with respect to unemployment postulated by Blanchflower and Oswald. In this regime, we also find that works councils dampen the adjustment of wages to the regional unemployment situation. In the other regimes of plants that either do not make use of collective contracts or apply sectoral agreements, we do not find a wage curve.     

Who Works for Whom and the UK Gender Pay Gap

This study reports novel facts about the UK gender pay gap. We use a representative, longitudinal and linked employer–employee dataset for 2002–2016. Men's average log hourly wage was 22 points higher than women's in this period. We find that 16 per cent of this raw pay gap is accounted for by estimated firm-specific wage effects. This is almost three times the amount explained by gender occupation differences. When we decompose a pre-adjusted measure of the pay gap, we find less than 1 percentage point or a 6 per cent share is accounted for by the gender allocation across high- and low-wage firms. In other words, only a small share of what is traditionally referred to as the ‘unexplained’ part of the pay gap is explained by the differences between men and women in whom they work for.     

Occupational Licensing and the Earnings Premium in the United States: Updated Evidence from the Current Population Survey

Using survey data from 2015 to 2018, this article analyses the occupational licensing wage premium in the United States. The estimates show a robust 4–6 per cent wage differential for licensed workers. This premium is robust to careful control for location/local labour market effects and occupation effects. The premium is also positive for the majority of individual occupations and groups of occupations estimated. Similar results are found using additional techniques, including a matching estimator and an analysis of border metropolitan statistical areas.     

The Heterogeneous Effects of Workforce Diversity on Productivity,Wages, and Profits

We estimate the impact of workforce diversity on productivity, wages, and productivity–wage gaps (i.e., profits) using detailed Belgian linked employer–employee panel data. Findings show that educational (age) diversity is beneficial (harmful) for firm productivity and wages. While gender diversity is found to generate significant gains in high‐tech/knowledge‐intensive sectors, the opposite result is obtained in more traditional industries. Estimates neither vary substantially with firm size nor point to sizeable productivity–wage gaps except for age diversity.     

Labor Union Response to Diversity in Canada and the United States

Canadian and American research finds that organized labor's engagement with race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation until recently has been largely exclusionist. The Canadian labor movement emerges as having been somewhat more responsive to equity issues, particularly gender and sexual orientation, and at an earlier stage than its U.S. counterpart. The American movement, however, did create limited room for African-American issues and unionization from early this century and now shows signs of broader engagement with diversity issues in general. The literature is strong in case studies pointing to exceptional situations involving minority militancy and union acceptance and in highlighting the role of activists inside and external to the labor movement. It suffers from a lack of large-scale analysis and comparison.     

Equal Pay for Equal Task: Assessing Heterogeneous Returns to Tasks across Genders

We inspect the heterogeneous association between tasks and wages across genders using individual-level data on U.S. workers. Our findings suggest that women receive a higher wage premium when engaged in cognitive tasks and experience more contained wage losses when performing manual activities. However, a wage penalty characterizes women engaged in highly social intensive jobs. Further inspection reveals that this result is especially driven by the teamwork component of social activities.     

The Structure of the Wage Gap for Temporary Workers: Evidence from Australian Panel Data

This study uses panel data for Australia to estimate the wage differential between workers in temporary jobs and workers in permanent jobs. It is the first study to use unconditional quantile regression methods in combination with fixed effects to examine how this gap varies over the entire wage distribution. While the wages of fixed‐term contract workers are found to be similar to those of permanent workers, low‐paid casual workers experience a wage penalty and high‐paid casual workers a wage premium compared to their permanent counterparts. Temporary agency workers also usually receive a wage premium, which is particularly large for the most well paid.     

Workforce Composition and Individual Wages — An Employer–Employee Data Analysis

The study analyses the impact of workforce composition and employee isolation — based on age, gender and citizenship — on entry wages of new employment relationships in German firms using employer–employee data. We allow for heterogeneous effects across distinct groups of workers and include worker and firm fixed effects to account for selection effects and unobserved heterogeneity. The results point to a negative impact of gender and age diversity for males and females, natives and foreigners and workers across the skill spectrum. Only for high-skilled workers, the negative effect of gender diversity is not statistically significant. Females receive, in addition, relatively low entry wages in establishments with a rather old workforce. With regard to the relative position, mainly gender isolation tends to exert an important influence on entry wages. The effect is positive only for females. In contrast, we estimate significant negative wage effects for males, natives, medium- and high-skilled workers. An international background of a firm's workforce and cultural isolation do not appear to generally affect entry wages.     

Pay Policies of Firms and Collective Wage Contracts—An Uneasy Partnership?

Theoretical considerations suggest that firms establish consistent internal wage structures and pay wage premiums of similar size across occupational groups. Strong evidence for the existence of coherent employer pay policies across occupations is found using a German employer–employee data set. However, firm‐specific elements of wage policies are less prevalent in firms applying industry‐level collective contracts than in firms with individual‐level wage contracts.     

Immigration, Ethnic Wage Differentials and Output Pay in Canada

Recent work suggests that ethnic minority wage differentials in Canada are smaller among those receiving performance pay and that the returns to performance pay are larger for ethnic minorities. This article adds to these findings. First, it demonstrates critical gender differences. The earlier findings are generated almost exclusively by males, as we show that the minority wage differential is small or zero for women in both the time rate sector and the performance pay sector. Second, accounting for immigration and language tends to move the ethnic wage differential in favour of minorities. Minority women on output pay are shown to earn more than non-minority women. While the differential often remains negative for minority men on time rates, it becomes insignificant in our most narrow comparison.     

The Productivity-Enhancing Impacts of the Minimum Wage: Lessons from Denmark and New Zealand

This article adds an international comparative perspective to the reflection on 100 years of minimum wage legislation in Britain by exploring the impact of minimum wage regulations and institutions in Denmark and New Zealand. In particular, it looks at the question of whether minimum wages can raise productivity through the 'shock effect'. It argues that while they will play a role, a supportive institutional framework is more important in providing coordinated solutions to issues of market failure, such as inadequate levels of training. The article suggests that sectoral bargaining institutions in low-paid sectors may have the potential to facilitate such coordination and enable the high-productivity model to emerge.     

Not for the Profit,But for the Training? Gender Differences in Training in the For-Profit and Non-Profit Sectors

In this article, we use Canadian-linked employer–employee data to examine gender differences in receiving firm-sponsored training. We find that women in the for-profit sector are less likely to receive classroom training and receive fewer classroom training courses. However, we find the opposite in the non-profit sector, where women are more likely to receive both classroom and on-the-job training, and also receive more classroom training courses. We show that women's worse training opportunities in the for-profit sector mainly operate within workplaces. We find no evidence that gender gaps in training in the for-profit sector are driven by lower probabilities of accepting training offers, child or family commitments, weaker labour market attachment or worker self-selection. We also find that gender differences in expected changes in wages and training opportunities between the two sectors can explain a large portion of women's higher probability of employment in the non-profit sector. Finally, decomposition results suggest that part of the gender wage gap in the for-profit sector, which is twice as large as in the non-profit sector, can be explained by gender differences in training.