Tasks and Gender Wage Gap: Evidence from China

Jiachen Han, Xinxin Ma and Shi Li

Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2026, vol. 75, issue 1, 33 - 64

Abstract: Using national survey data from the China Labor-Force Dynamics Survey from 2014 to 2018, we construct an indicator of nonroutine task intensity to examine task-based effects on the gender wage gap (GWG) in China. We employ decomposition methods to explore the two channels through which tasks influence GWG. Our results indicate that the wage premium for nonroutine tasks is higher for men than for women, and several robustness checks support this conclusion. The gender gap in the nonroutine task wage premium is more pronounced among younger, less educated, and low-wage workers, and among workers in regions with less developed digital economies. The decomposition results suggest that both gender gaps in the allocation of nonroutine tasks (endowment effect) and differences in wage returns to these tasks (price effect) contribute to widening the GWG, with the endowment effect exerting a slightly greater influence. We also find that both the endowment and price effects of nonroutine tasks are more pronounced among low-wage workers than among medium- and high-wage workers.

Date: 2026
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