Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the relation between occupational segregation and the gender wage differences using data on three-digit occupational level of classification. The authors examine whether a statistically significant relation between the share of men in employment and the size of the unexplained part of the gender wage gap exists.Design/methodology/approachTraditional Oaxaca (1973) – Blinder (1973) decomposition is performed to examine the differences in the gender wage gaps among minor occupational groups. Two types of reweighted decomposition – based on the parametric estimate of the propensity score and non-parametric proposition presented by Barsky et al. (2002) – are used as the robustness check. The analysis is based on individual data available from Poland.FindingsThe results indicate no strong relation between occupational segregation and the size of unexplained differences in wages. The unexplained wage differences are the smallest in strongly female-dominated and mixed occupations; the highest are observed in male-dominated occupations. However, they are probably to a large extent the result of other, difficult to include in the econometric model, factors rather than the effects of wage discrimination: differences in the psychophysical conditions of men and women, cultural background, tradition or habits. The failure to take them into account may result in over-interpreting the unexplained parts as gender discrimination.Research limitations/implicationsThe highest accuracy of the estimated gender wage gap is obtained for the occupational groups with a similar proportion of men and women in employment. In other male- or female-dominated groups, the size of the estimated gender wage gaps depends on the estimation method used.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that decreasing the degree of segregation of men and women in different occupations could reduce the wage differences between them, as the wage discrimination in gender balanced occupations is the smallest.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the few conducted at such a disaggregated level of occupations, and one of few studies focused on Central and Eastern European countries and the first one for Poland.
Highlights
Results of different studies suggest that gender differences in wages are a well-established feature of contemporary labour markets in most developed economies (Blau and Kahn, 2003)
This paper aims to add to the empirical literature by analysing the relation between occupational segregation of men and women and the size of differences in wages in detailed occupational groups
Occupational segregation, gender wage gaps and discrimination: empirical results Looking at the sample of 98 minor, three-digit level occupational groups in Poland, there are 39 male-dominated groups where more than 60 per cent of employees are males, 37 female-dominated groups where men constitute less than 40 per cent of workers and 22 mixed groups with a masculinisation ratio[3] between 40 and 60 per cent[4]
Summary
Results of different studies suggest that gender differences in wages are a well-established feature of contemporary labour markets in most developed economies (Blau and Kahn, 2003). Only a fraction of the wage gap between men and women can be explained by the. © Pawel Strawinski, Aleksandra Majchrowska and Paulina Broniatowska. Distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article International Journal of Manpower and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors.
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