Gender Inequality in the Labor Market

Abstract

While women earn less, on average, than men in all advanced industrialized countries, countries vary in the size of the gender earnings gap We use data from nine advanced industrialized democracies to investigate the extent to which the ratio of women's to men's income is associated with sex segregation, labor's power and inclusiveness, leftist parties' strength, family policies, labor demand, and relative human capital levels. In general, labor's ability to bargain collectively explains more of the gender gap, directly and indirectly, than other factors.