Statistical gender discrimination: evidence from young workers across four decades and 56 countries

Joanna Tyrowicz and Lucas van der Velde

JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, 2024, vol. 90, issue 4, 659-688

Abstract: Statistical discrimination offers a compelling narrative on gender wage gaps among younger workers. Employers could reduce women's wages to adjust for expected costs linked to child-bearing. If this is the case, then trends toward delayed fertility should reduce the gender wage gap among young workers. We provide a novel collection of adjusted gender wage gap (AGWG) estimates among young workers from 56 countries spanning four decades and use it to test the conjecture that delayed fertility reduces gender wage inequality. We employ instrumental variables, and find that one year postponement of the first birth reduces AGWG by two percentage points (15% of the AGWG). We benchmark this estimate with the help of time-use data.

Keywords: Gender wage gap; Statistical discrimination; Youth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J31 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-12-01
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Working Paper: Statistical gender discrimination: evidence from young workers across four decades and 56 countries (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ctl:louvde:v:90:y:2024:i:4:p:659-688

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