Sources of the Gender Wage Gap in a New Zealand Birth Cohort

David Fergusson () and Sheree J. Gibb
Additional contact information
David Fergusson: University of Otago
Sheree J. Gibb: University of Otago

Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), 2009, vol. 12, issue 3, 281-298

Abstract: The gender wage gap is a well-established finding that has been observed in a range of different societies. This paper examined the sources and composition of the gender wage gap in a New Zealand birth cohort of 30 year-olds. Prior to adjustment for explanatory variables, male wages were 38.0 per cent higher than female wages. After adjustment for human capital endowments, job characteristics and family responsibilities, there remained an unexplained gender wage gap of 11.5 per cent. Decomposition of the gender wage gap revealed that 66.4 per cent of the total gender wage gap could be explained by gender differences in human capital, job characteristics and family factors. These results suggest that, even after accounting for gender differences in a wide range of explanatory variables, males continue to earn significantly higher wages than females.

Keywords: Wage differentials; Economics of Gender; Human Capital; Skill; Occupational choice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://ftprepec.drivehq.com/ozl/journl/downloads/AJLE123gibb.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:ozl:journl:v:12:y:2009:i:3:p:281-298

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE) from Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sandie Rawnsley ().