COMPUTER SKILLS AND WAGES*

Data from the 1993 Survey of Training and Education show that 52 per cent of males and 60 per cent of females had at some time used a computer. An analysis using earnings functions reveals that computer usage is associated with a wage premium of between 12 and 16 per cent. Experiments show that omission of a variable recording computer usage from a wage equation will result in a bias of between 10 and 15 per cent in the estimated return to a year of schooling and similar distortion to the estimated return to experience.     

Undereducation and Overeducation in the Australian Labour Market*

This paper uses data from the 1996 Census of Population and Housing Household Sample File (HSF) to study the incidence of mismatch between workers' educational attainments and the requirements of their jobs, and the earnings consequences of this mismatch. It also examines whether mismatch contributes to the explanation of the gender wage differential in the Australian labour market. It is found that approximately 15.8 per cent of men and 13.6 per cent of women are overeducated, whereas approximately 18.5 per cent of women and 13.7 per cent of men are undereducated. Substantial earnings consequences are found to be associated with this mismatch, with surplus schooling yielding relatively low returns. The results suggest that mismatch does not account for the gender wage gap in the Australian labour market; rather the gender wage differential is entrenched in the fundamentals of pay determination.     

Public–Private Sector Wage Differentials in Australia

This paper examines public–private sector wage differentials in Australia. After controlling for observed characteristics and individual fixed effects, we show that on average workers in the public sector earn about 5.1 per cent more in hourly wages than those in the private sector. The wage premium is slightly higher for females than males. Using a panel data quantile regression model with fixed effects, we show that the positive wage effects of public sector employment are heterogeneous, with comparatively larger impact at the lower end of the wage distribution than at other parts. We also find evidence of heterogeneity in the public sector wage premiums by qualification, time period, occupation and state/territory.     

A quantitative theory of the gender gap in wages

This paper measures how much of the gender wage gap over the life cycle is due to the fact that working hours are lower for women than for men. We build a quantitative theory of fertility, labor supply, and human capital accumulation decisions to measure gender differences in human capital investments over the life cycle. We assume that there are no gender differences in the human capital technology and calibrate this technology using wage–age profiles of men. The calibration of females assumes that children involves a forced reduction in hours of work that falls on females rather than on males and that there is an exogenous gender gap in hours of work. We find that our theory accounts for all of the increase in the gender wage gap over the life cycle in the NLSY79 data. The impact of children on the labor supply of females accounts for 56% and 45% of the increase in the gender wage gap over the life cycle among non-college and college females, while the rest is due to the exogenous gender differences in hours of work.     

Labor markets and mating markets: Using taxes to reduce the male–female pay gap

Recently, Frank and McKenzie (J Bioecon 8(3):269–274, 2006) pointed out that beside discrimination, there is a further reason for a wage gap between males and females: If females value partner wages more than males in the mating market, this would increase the pay gap. In this paper, it is analyzed whether there exist policies that may improve the position of females and males from a distributional point of view without destroying the signal females want about the labor market success of males. First-best redistribution policies require the knowledge of the male and female wage preferences. Because this information is not available, a first-best redistribution policy seems infeasible. As an alternative policy, a differentiated wage tax is considered which is less information demanding than a first-best policy. It is shown that a welfare increasing wage tax scheme does exist and that an adequately chosen wage tax scheme may decrease the gender wage gap without destroying the desired signal of wages for labor market success.     

COLLEGE MAJOR CHOICE AND CHANGES IN THE GENDER WAGE GAP

The distribution of college majors changed markedly between the 1970s and 1980s as fewer students completed degrees in low-skill fields such as education and letters and more graduated in high-skill fields such as engineering and business. This shift was most dramatic for females, who previously were concentrated in low-skill fields relative to those of males. This paper examines how this education-related skill upgrade, as represented by changes in the major distribution, affected the gender wage gap for college graduates during the 1980s. The results show that convergence in major distribution between males and females contributed to a decline in the gender wage gap for college graduates.     

Effects of Expected Effort on Females in the Labor Market

We introduce expectations regarding the amount of exerted effort by males and females into the “standard” labor market equilibrium. Using a theoretical model, we show that the gender wage gap increases when the expected effect is incorporated into the model. Based on a survey, we find that there are inaccurate expectations regarding the amount effort exerted by males and females. We argue that biased expectations lead to paying females lower wages and a higher gender wage gap than should be expected on the basis of effort exerted. We suggest marketing females' efforts as a policy tool to counteract these biased expectations.     

Gender Inequality in the Provision of Employer-Supported Education

Abstract
Only 27 per cent of females compared with 51 per cent of males undertaking programs of education in Australia do so with financial or other support from their employer. Using data from the How Workers Get Their Training, Australia 1989 survey, an analysis of this differential is undertaken by investigating the effects of dependent children and by controlling for differences in other characteristics between males and females. Although after controlling for these differences the absolute difference between males and females was small, 3.5 percentage points, the estimated bias in favour of males accounts for over 80 per cent of this differential; that is, less than 20 per cent of the differential can be accounted for by differences in male and female characteristics .     

Empirical determinants of physician incomes — Evidence from Canadian data

This paper makes use of the fact that the stock of medical manpower in Canada is institutionally and exogenously determined in order to develop a model predicting physician average net income. An econometric evaluation of this model on a sample involving Canada's ten provinces during 1968–1982 suggests that a one per cent increase in physician fees increases physician average net income by 0.70 per cent, and a one per cent increase in the physician to population ratio reduces average net income by 0.62 per cent. In both cases, the elasticities are less than unity because the supply function for an individual physician is backward bending — on average, a Canadian physician reduces his hours worked by an amount between 0.17 and 0.50 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval) if his real wage rate is increased by one per cent.     

Wages in a growing Russia

The robust Russian economic recovery after the 1998 financial crisis raised the economic standing of the population, especially for lowly paid workers, most of whom are women. In this paper I use the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey from 1996 through 2002 to ask whether this helped to reduce the gender wage gap. I first focus on those whose wages are paid in full. Next, I ask about the gender composition of wage arrears as the overall extent of wage arrears dropped from 60 to 20 per cent after the 1998 crisis. I show that a temporary widening of the overall gender wage gap in 2000 is due to low‐wage women becoming more likely to receive their wages in full than low‐wage men. Except for this effect, the male–female pay difference in Russia exhibits a stable pattern.     

Female labour supply in Australia: Another example of a backward-bending labour supply curve

Hours worked by employed married females in Australia are analysed using techniques to correct for sample selection bias. Consistent with the conclusions of the study of female labour supply in the U.S. and Canada by Nakamura and Nakamura (1981), working wives work fewer hours per week when paid higher hourly wage rates.     

Sex Discrimination and Occupational Segregation in the Australian Labour Market*

This paper explores the implications of the difference between the occupational distribution for males and females in a joint model determining earnings and occupation. The male/female wage differential is evaluated for a number of broad occupational classifications. This is followed by an evaluation of the role and relative importance of inter-occupational and intra-occupational effects as contributors to the overall male/female wage differential The main conclusion following from the econometric results is that intra-occupational effects dominate Thus, policies which attempt to address the gender wage differential by re-allocation of labour across occupations are unlikely to solve the problem.     

Gender asymmetries: Impacts of an early‐stage school intervention in the Philippines

This paper examines long‐term impacts of improved school quality at the elementary school cycle on subsequent schooling investments and labor market outcomes using unique data from a survey that tracked nearly 3,500 former students in the Philippines. The Third Elementary Education Project (TEEP) intervention introduced a package of investments and management reforms at the school level, including classroom constructions, textbooks, teacher training, and school‐based management in the period of 2000 to 2006. The impacts on subsequent schooling investments and labor market earnings differ between females and males. The intervention significantly increased earnings among females, which reduced the existing wage gap by gender. However, the findings on schooling outcomes are mixed; the gender gap tended to widen, enhancing females’ existing relative advantage in schooling, though their impacts are insignificant for both females and males.     

Swimming with the Tide: Solidary Wage Policy and the Gender Earnings Gap

This paper addresses the consequences of wage compression for the gender wage gap in Sweden during the period 1968–1991. We find that the effects of changes in the wage structure on women's wages have varied over time and have been partly counteracting. Changes in industry wage differentials have systematically worked against women, while changes in the returns to human capital and unobserved characteristics have contributed to reductions in the gender wage gap. Changes in the wage structure were particularly important between 1968 and 1974 when there was a dramatic reduction in overall wage inequality.
JEL classification : J 16; J 31; J 51     

The Economic Situation

Throughout the first nine months of 1976 the Australian economy has remained virtually stagnant, with output and employment increasing only marginally and unemployment rising also. With the government following a severely contractionary policy in an attempt to break inflation the economy seems poised for a further modest downturn in the next nine months so that a self-sustaining recovery from the current recession does not seem to be in prospect before the second half of 1977. On the basis of existing policies our forecasts indicate a rate of growth of real GDP of only about 1.0 per cent in 1976–77, implying a further significant rise in unemployment during the financial year. There have been some hopeful signs in recent months of a reduction in inflation — the consumer price index increases in the first three quarters of 1976 were modest and wage rate increases remain closely in line with the wage indexation guidelines — but three factors have emerged to cast doubt on whether this improving trend will continue. The first is the effect of the recent drought on prices of foodstuffs, particularly meat, and the second is the expected 1.5 to 2.0 per cent increase in the consumer price index as a result of the changes in the method of financing hospital and medical services. These two factors mean that the December quarter increase in the consumer price index may be more than 5 per cent, threatening a further stimulus to inflation in 1977. Thirdly, present government policies could easily lead to a breakdown of the wage indexation system and a return to some form of collective bargaining over wage rates. Assuming nevertheless, a de facto continuation of partial indexation in 1977, we expect increases in male award wages and male average earnings of about 13 per cent during 1977, these increases being similar to those during 1975 and 1976 but much below the increases of 36 per cent and 28 per cent respectively recorded during 1974. Our forecasts also indicate increases in the consumer price index of 14 per cent during 1976 and 11 per cent during 1977, following increases of 16.3 per cent and 14.0 per cent during 1974 and 1975 respectively. These forecasts indicate that the government's fiscal, monetary, exchange rate and wage policies are likely to come under heavy challenge early in 1977, and decisions taken at that time are likely to be major determinants of economic developments in Australia in the next few years. The Institute would again urge a shift to a co-operative package including full wage indexation, with cuts in indirect taxes and public sector charges to wind down inflation and expand the economy. On current indications, labour productivity will be no higher in 1976–77 than in 1973–74, because of the weakness of total output, so that the whole burden of wage increases in that three year period has fallen on unit costs of production. It is our belief that the twin problems of inflation and unemployment will only be defeated in Australia when both cuts in indirect or direct taxes and increases in productivity are applied to reducing inflation in the context of an orderly system of wage and price determination.     

The Male-Female Pay Gap Driven by Coupling between Labor Markets and Mating Markets

Synopsis Males often get paid more than females for the same work. This male-female pay gap has been observed throughout the world over many years. The most commonly cited explanations focus on gender oppression and workplace discrimination. We agree that discrimination contributes significantly to the pay gap; however, other factors may play important roles in how the sexes compete in the labor market. We use observations from psychology and concepts from biology to show how aspects of mate choice may influence labor markets. With a mathematical model, we analyze how mating preferences for partner wages affect the differences in wages between males and females, and in turn how wage differences affect mating preferences. If some extrinsic force, such as discrimination, creates an initial bias in wages, then coupled feedback between mating preferences and wages creates and maintains excess mating preference and wage biases. This model demonstrates how coupling between labor markets and mating markets can lead to outcomes that do not occur when analyzing either market in isolation from the other.     

Fertility Decisions and Gender Differences in Labor Turnover, Employment, and Wages

A striking observation of the U.S. and other labor markets is the weak position of women in terms of job attachment, employment, and earnings relative to men. We develop a model of fertility and labor market decisions to study the impact of fertility on gender differences in labor turnover, employment, and wages. In our framework, individuals search for jobs and accumulate general (experience) and specific (tenure) human capital when they work. They can also increase their wage by moving to a job of higher quality. Labor market decisions (e.g., job acceptance and job mobility) may differ across genders: females that give birth may decide to interrupt their labor market attachment in order to enjoy the value of staying at home with their children. The model economy is successfully calibrated to match aggregate statistics in terms of fertility, employment, and wages. We find that fertility decisions generate important gender differences in turnover rates, with long lasting effects in employment and wages. These differences in labor turnover account for almost all the U.S. gender wage gap that is attributed to labor market experience by Blau and Kahn (2000, Journal of Labor Economics15(1), 1–42). The model also implies a very small role of tenure capital in accounting for wage differences between males and females (gender gap), and between females with and without children (family gap). Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: E24, J13, J21, J31.     

中国城市劳动力市场上的性别工资差异

本文描述了中国城市劳动力市场上男女在行业获得和工资上的差异,并且用计量方法对工资差异进行了分解。分解结果表明,男女工资差异主要由同类行业内工资差异引起,而由于两者行业分布不同而带来的工资差异不大;歧视是造成性别之间的工资差异的主要原因,人力资本所起的作用很小。由此,缩小行业内的工资差异,消除对女性的歧视,是缩小工资性别差异的重要途径。     

Australian Capital City Real House Prices, 1979–1993

Real house prices have increased by 35 per cent in Australian capital cities during the last 15 years, with Brisbane, Canberra, and Sydney experiencing rises of 48 to 61 per cent and Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth having increases of 20 per cent or less. This article estimates a single model for the six cities to explain the divergent real price behaviour over time and space. It is concluded that the fundamental forces driving real house prices are the growth rate in real wage income (primarily due to employment growth) and the growth in population caused by net overseas migration.