We must not ignore plight of low-paid men as once we ignored that of working women

a newspaper article by Paul Johnson published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies [via South West Skills Newsletter]

On average, women earn about 20 per cent less per hour worked than men. This persistent gap has, unsurprisingly, driven a lot of political concern, not to say outrage. It has also led to an increasing amount of research that is throwing a much clearer light on what is happening, if not on how to fix the problem.

We know that the wage gap is particularly associated with what happens in the labour market after women become mothers. They often spend some time out of work and, more importantly, often return to work part-time. In Britain, part-time work is heavily penalised. Women also tend to reduce their commuting times after they become mothers, giving them less choice of jobs and employers.

Men, on the whole, do not move to part-time work or reduce their commutes after they become fathers. Choices made within the family unit and choices made by employers over how they pay and promote those who work part-time or limited hours both matter enormously.

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Why do occupations dominated by women pay less? How ‘female-typical’ work tasks and working-time arrangements affect the gender wage gap among higher education graduates

an article by Kathrin Leuze (Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany) and Susanne Strauß (University of Konstanz, Germany) published in Work, employment and society Volume 30 Number 5 (October 2016)

Abstract

Even though women today constitute the majority of higher education graduates, they still earn considerably less than their male counterparts. Previous research demonstrates that occupational sex segregation is important for understanding the gender wage gap, since occupations dominated by women pay less; yet less is known about why this is the case.

This article explores two possible mechanisms: the devaluation of ‘female-typical’ work tasks and working-time arrangements.

Hypotheses are tested by applying OLS regression and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analyses to the log hourly wages of a representative sample of German higher education graduates from 2001.

Results confirm that occupational overtime increases and occupational part-time work decreases wages, indicating that occupations dominated by women pay less due to their ‘female-typical’ working-time arrangements.

However, inconsistent with the devaluation thesis, tasks like teaching/educating increase wages for women, too, which speaks against a general lower value of ‘female-typical’ tasks, at least among the highly qualified.

Full text (PDF)

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Gender pay gaps among highly educated professionals – Compensation components do matter

an article by Christian Grund (RWTH Aachen University, Germany) published in Labour Economics Volume 34 (June 2015)

Abstract

Making use of panel data from a survey of highly educated professionals, gender pay gaps are explored with regard to total compensation as well as to individual compensation components.

The results indicate meaningful male–female wage differentials for this quite homogeneous group of people working in one specific industry: in particular for more experienced employees in higher positions of firm hierarchies with children.

Gender pay gaps are much more pronounced for bonus payments than they are for fixed salaries.

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