Decomposing the barriers to equal pay: examining differential predictors of the gender pay gap by socio-economic group

Vanessa Gash, Wendy Olsen, Sook Kim and Nadine Zwiener-Collins

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2025, vol. 49, issue 4, 825-848

Abstract: Our article examines different predictors of the gender pay gap at the mean and for different income groups. Using the United Kingdom Household Panel Survey (UKHLS), we provide a detailed analysis of the effects of individual work histories, with up to 40 years of retrospective data examined alongside other key indicators. Work histories provide a powerful means of measuring the long-term effects of reduced labour force attachment on pay for women and for men. We find that gendered differentials in work-history account for 29% of the gender pay gap at the mean and that the effects of women’s reduced attachment vary by income group. We find men to earn a higher wage penalty to part-time work-histories than women, and find no evidence of a penalty to part-time work more generally in poor households. We conclude that gender equalisation policies need to reflect divergent needs by income group.

Keywords: Gender pay gap; Sex-segregation; Work-history; Working-time; B54; E24; J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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