All Women Benefit: The Macro-Level Effect of Occupational Integration on Gender Earnings Equality

Abstract

Macro-level processes transfer many of the income benefits of occupational integration to all women in the labor market, not just to those women who enter predominantly male (and therefore high-paying) occupations. The authors investigate these macro-level effects in a multi-level model comparing 261 metropolitan area labor markets. They find that occupational integration is strongly associated with gender earnings equality, even after extensive individual- and macro-level controls are introduced. The size of the association implies that the entire gender gap in earnings would be eliminated if occupational integration were complete. This macro-level estimate is far higher than the 9 percent to 38 percent estimates found in individual-level studies. Moreover, an individual-level control for the gender composition of a worker's occupation explains little of the macro-level occupational association between integration and earnings equality. Women in predominantly female occupations benefit almost as much from an integrated labor market as do women in predominantly male occupations