The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations

Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn

No 21913, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Using PSID microdata over the 1980-2010, we provide new empirical evidence on the extent of and trends in the gender wage gap, which declined considerably over this period. By 2010, conventional human capital variables taken together explained little of the gender wage gap, while gender differences in occupation and industry continued to be important. Moreover, the gender pay gap declined much more slowly at the top of the wage distribution that at the middle or the bottom and by 2010 was noticeably higher at the top. We then survey the literature to identify what has been learned about the explanations for the gap. We conclude that many of the traditional explanations continue to have salience. Although human capital factors are now relatively unimportant in the aggregate, women’s work force interruptions and shorter hours remain significant in high skilled occupations, possibly due to compensating differentials. Gender differences in occupations and industries, as well as differences in gender roles and the gender division of labor remain important, and research based on experimental evidence strongly suggests that discrimination cannot be discounted. Psychological attributes or noncognitive skills comprise one of the newer explanations for gender differences in outcomes. Our effort to assess the quantitative evidence on the importance of these factors suggests that they account for a small to moderate portion of the gender pay gap, considerably smaller than say occupation and industry effects, though they appear to modestly contribute to these differences.

JEL-codes: J16 J24 J31 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hrm and nep-ltv
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (140)

Published as Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2017. "The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, vol 55(3), pages 789-865.

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Journal Article: The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations (2017)
Working Paper: The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations (2016)
Working Paper: The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations (2016)
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