Effects of Minimum Wages on the Gender Pay Gap

Shirley Dex, Holly Sutherland and Heather Joshi

National Institute Economic Review, 2000, vol. 173, 80-88

Abstract: This article explores the implications of alternative policy regimes for gender wage inequality. Against the background of a description of recent changes in pay ratios of men and women in Britain, the focus is primarily on calculating the likely effects on gender wage ratios of introducing the statutory minimum wage in the UK. The effects of alternative options are also assessed in part; giving women men's average hourly earnings, leaving occupations unchanged, and redistributing women through occupations in the same proportions as men, leaving their occupational average pay unchanged. The largest effects on pay ratios come from giving women the same pay as men in their existing occupations. However, a statutory minimum wage of £3.60 per hour does improve the gender pay ratio and helps women at the lower end of the pay spectrum. It is also considerably easier to implement than other options.

Date: 2000
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/ ... type/journal_article link to article abstract page (text/html)

Related works:
Journal Article: Effects of Minimum Wages on the Gender Pay Gap (2000)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:nierev:v:173:y:2000:i::p:80-88_9

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in National Institute Economic Review from National Institute of Economic and Social Research Cambridge University Press, UPH, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS UK. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kirk Stebbing ().