The Increase of the Gender Wage Gap in Italy during the 2008-2012 Economic Crisis

Daniela Piazzalunga and Maria Di Tommaso ()

No 9931, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The paper examines the gender wage gap in Italy during the 2008-2012 economic crisis, using cross-sectional EU-SILC data. The gender wage gap increased from 4% in 2008 to 8% in 2012, when for most European countries the gap decreased. After 2010 the growth of the Italian gender wage gap (and its unexplained component) was particularly high in the upper part of the wage distribution. In 2010-11 a wage freeze in the public sector was introduced as an austerity measure: the average public sector premium dropped from 15% to 11%. Using counterfactual analyses, we show that the wage freeze has been one of the major causes of the growth of the gap, disproportionately affecting women, who are more likely to be employed in the public sector. This 'policy effect' accounts for more than 100% of the increase between 2009 and 2011, while other changes, if anything, would have reduced the gap.

Keywords: public sector premium; Great Recession; gender wage gap; decomposition; counterfactual analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J31 J45 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 52 pages
Date: 2016-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-eur, nep-hme and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published - published in: Journal of Economic Inequality, 2019, 17 (2), 171–193

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Related works:
Journal Article: The increase of the gender wage gap in Italy during the 2008-2012 economic crisis (2019)
Journal Article: The increase of the gender wage gap in Italy during the 2008-2012 economic crisis (2019)
Working Paper: The increase of the gender wage gap in Italy during the 2008-2012 economic crisis (2015)
Working Paper: The increase of the gender wage gap in Italy during the 2008-2012 economic crisis (2015)
Working Paper: The increase of gender wage gap in Italy during the 2008-2012 economic crisis (2015)
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