The Occupational Feminization of Wages

John Addison, Orgul Ozturk and Si Wang
Additional contact information
Si Wang: Hunan University

No 2015-12, GEMF Working Papers from GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra

Abstract: This paper updates the major study by Macpherson and Hirsch (1995) of the effect of the gender composition of occupations on female (and male) earnings. Using large representative national samples of employees from the Current Population Survey, cross-sectional estimates of the impact of proportion female in an occupation (or feminization) on wages are first provided, paying close attention to the role of occupational characteristics. Specification differences in the effects of feminization across alternative subsamples are examined, as well as the contribution of the feminization argument to the explanation of the gender wage gap. An updated longitudinal analysis using the CPS data is also provided. This examination of two-year panels of individuals is supplemented using information from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth which has the advantage of offering a longer panel. Analysis of the former suggests the reduction in gender composition effects observed for females in cross section with the addition of controls for occupational characteristics becomes complete after accounting for unobserved individual heterogeneity. This is not the case for the latter dataset, most likely reflecting heritage effects of discrimination in what is an aging cohort.

Keywords: occupational segregation; gender wage gap. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J31 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2015-05
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in ILR Review, 71:1(2018), 208-241

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp9078.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Occupational Feminization of Wages (2018)
Working Paper: The Occupational Feminization of Wages (2015)
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:gmf:wpaper:2015-12

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in GEMF Working Papers from GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sofia Antunes ().