The gender gap in early-career wage growth

Alan Manning () and Joanna Swaffield

Economic Journal, 2008, vol. 118, issue 530, pages 983-1024

Abstract: In the UK the gender pay gap on entry to the labour market is approximately zero but ten years after labour market entry, there is a gender wage gap of almost 25 log points. This article explores the reason for this gender gap in early-career wage growth, considering three main hypotheses - human capital, job-shopping and 'psychological' theories. Human capital factors can explain about 11 log points, job-shopping about 1.5 log points and the psychological theories up to 4.5 log points depending on the specification. But a substantial unexplained gap remains: women who have continuous full-time employment, have had no children and express no desire to have them earn about 8 log points less than equivalent men after 10 years in the labour market. Copyright © The Author(s). Journal compilation © Royal Economic Society 2008.

Date: 2008
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Working Paper: The Gender Gap in Early Career Wage Growth (2005)
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