Workplace presenteeism, job substitutability and gender inequality

Ghazala Azmat, Lena Hensvik () and Olof Rosenqvist ()
Additional contact information
Lena Hensvik: Uppsala University, Department of Economics
Olof Rosenqvist: IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, Postal: Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy, P O Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden

No 2020:9, Working Paper Series from IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy

Abstract: Following the arrival of the first child, women’s absence rates soar and become less predictable due to the greater frequency of their own sickness and the need to care for sick children. In this paper, we argue that this fall in presenteeism in the workplace hurts women’s wages, not only indirectly and gradually, through a slower accumulation of human capital, but also immediately, through a direct negative effect on productivity in unique jobs (i.e., jobs with low substitutability). Although both presenteeism and uniqueness are highly rewarded, we document that women’s likelihood of holding jobs with low substitutability decreases substantially relative to men’s after the arrival of the first child. This gap persists over time, with important long-run wage implications. We highlight that the parenthood wage penalty for women could be reduced by organizing work in such a way that more employees have tasks that, at least in the short run, can be performed satisfactorily by other employees in the workplace.

Keywords: first child; presenteeism; couples; job substitutability; gender wage gap (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2020-06-23
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-gen, nep-hea, nep-hrm and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Workplace Presenteeism, Job Substitutability and Gender Inequality (2023)
Working Paper: Workplace Presenteeism, Job Substitutability and Gender Inequality (2023)
Working Paper: Workplace Presenteeism, Job Substitutability and Gender Inequality (2021)
Working Paper: Workplace Presenteeism, Job Substitutability and Gender Inequality (2021)
Working Paper: Workplace Presenteeism, Job Substitutability and Gender Inequality (2021)
Working Paper: Workplace Presenteeism, Job Substitutability and Gender Inequality (2020)
Working Paper: Workplace Presenteeism, Job Substitutability and Gender Inequality (2020)
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