Sources of gender wage gaps for skilled workers in Latin American countries

Abstract

This paper identifies the impact of taste-based discrimination on labor market outcomes for nine Latin American countries. We use homogenized survey data on skilled workers to estimate a search and matching model of the labor market with explicit prejudice against women, participation decisions, and occupational choices. By gradually eliminating all potential sources of gender gaps, we find that prejudice is the only source that consistently impacts women, and plays a significant role in explaining gender wage gaps at the bottom of the wage distribution. Additionally, prejudice has strong negative effects on gender gaps with respect to participation, employment/unemployment, and self-employment rates.