Role of Commuting Time on Explaining Gender Wage Gap in Indonesia

Abstract

Purpose This research aims to identify the role of commuting time on explaining gender wage gap in Indonesia Design/methodology/approach Using dataset from National Labor Survey (Sakernas) 2019, this research estimated 33.6% wage gap between men and women. Findings The inclusion of commuting characteristics showed an increase of explained gender wage gap proportion from 14.2% to 22.6%. The commuting time variable contributes to 14.6% of the explained wage gap. Research limitations/implications From the results it can be identified that the increase of women’s commuting time has the potential to reduce gender wage gap in Indonesia. Originality/value Gender wage gap is a labor market discrimination issue that persists worldwide, including Indonesia. Previous researches pointed out that the gender wage gap in Indonesia is mainly composed of parts unexplained by demographic, human capital, and job characteristics. While the commuting characteristics have the potential to explain more of the gender wage gap, it is still underexplored in Indonesia.