Changes in Workplace Heterogeneity and How They Widen the Gender Wage Gap

Benjamin Bruns

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2019, vol. 11, issue 2, 74-113

Abstract: Using linked employer-employee data for West Germany, I investigate the role of growing wage differentials between firms in the slowdown of gender wage convergence since the 1990s. The results show that two factors are at play: first, high-wage firms experience higher wage growth and employ disproportionately more men, and second, male firm premiums grow faster than female premiums in the same firms. These developments were catalyzed by a decline of union coverage, coupled with more firm-specific wage setting in collective bargaining agreements. Taken together, these conditions prevented the gender gap from narrowing by approximately 15 percent between the 1990s and 2000s.

JEL-codes: J16 J31 J51 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.20160664
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (66)

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