Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors in France: Quantile and Frontier Hedonic Wage Analysis of the Gender Pay Gap

Audrey Dumas (), Kristiaan Kerstens () and Poleth Vega Ruales ()
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Audrey Dumas: Université de Perpignan, CDED, 52 Avenue Villeneuve, Perpignan F-66000, France
Kristiaan Kerstens: IESEG School of Management, Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9221 - LEM - Lille Economie Management, F-59000 Lille, France
Poleth Vega Ruales: Université de Perpignan, CDED, 52 Avenue Villeneuve, Perpignan F-66000, France

No 2026-EQM-01, Working Papers from IESEG School of Management

Abstract: This paper examines the gender pay gap by focusing on the glass ceiling and sticky floor effects. First, we use parametric methods based on the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition which measure the adjusted average wage difference between men and women. Second, for comparison, we propose an original approach based on a nonparametric double hedonic wage frontier. This method evaluates how far each individual’s wage is from both the maximum (upper frontier) and minimum (lower frontier) potential salary they could obtain given their characteristics, thereby capturing the glass ceiling and sticky floor effects, respectively. Using 2022 French labour-market data, the nonparametric analysis shows that the gender pay gap is larger than what parametric methods suggest. We confirm that the glass ceiling effect is the more severe issue. Financial and insurance activities display the strongest glass ceiling and sticky floor effects, while employment in the public sector offers women better protection from these inequalities.

Keywords: Gender pay gap; Luenberger indicator; glass ceiling; sticky floor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C14 J31 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2026-03
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