Abstract
The study analyzes the role of occupational distribution in explaining the male-female wage gap in the Portuguese economy. The objective is to investigate to what extent gender wage disparities can be explained by occupational segregation. Relying on data from the personnel records for the period 1986-2004, this study uses the Brown, Moon, and Zoloth (1989) wage differential decomposition method to conduct the empirical analysis. The main findings reveal that occupational gender segregation is not a major contributor to the male-female wage gap and that within occupational wage effects play a prominent role in determining the overall differential. Additionally, the results indicate that a substantial portion of wage differentials within occupations potentially stems from wage discrimination.
Highlights
IntroductionThe Portuguese labor market has been marked by some dramatic changes
Over the last decades, the Portuguese labor market has been marked by some dramatic changes
The estimates reveal that over the years the portion of the gap explained by wage disparities within the same occupation has been considerably greater than the portion that has stemmed from differences in the occupational distribution of male and female employees
Summary
The Portuguese labor market has been marked by some dramatic changes. The traditional approach in analyzing the determinants of the gender wage gap is to consider both the effects of gender differences in employees’ human capital endowments and labor market discrimination. Scholars focus on the role of gender segregation across occupations in explaining differences in earnings. Based on a nineteen year period (1986-2004), this paper aims at investigating if the wage gap has occurred mostly within occupations, or has the distribution of males and females across occupations played a prominent role in shaping the disparities. The main objective is to determine to what extent gender wage disparities can be explained by differences in the occupational distribution of male and female employees. Empirical results on the decomposition of the wage gap may be considered an important tool in defining policy measures aimed at promoting labor market equality on a gender basis
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
