Manual task intensity and male-female wage gap: Evidence from China

Da Xie, Min Zhang and Pijing Bing

Finance Research Letters, 2025, vol. 76, issue C

Abstract: The male-female wage gap is a key factor that influences household investment decisions. This study investigates the impact of manual task intensity (MTI) on the male-female wage gap in China. Males generally do not hold as strong a comparative advantage in cognitive tasks as they do in manual tasks. Therefore, the decrease in MTI is expected to reduce the male-female wage gap. This study finds that MTI accounts for 55.7 % of the male income premium. The findings suggest that a decline in MTI would contribute to a re-balancing of the male-female wage gap in China.

Keywords: Male-female wage gap; Biased technological change; Manual task intensity; Cognitive task intensity; Household finance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:finlet:v:76:y:2025:i:c:s1544612325001977

DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2025.106933

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