Upstreamness, Wages and Gender: Equal Benefits for All?

Nicola Gagliardi, Benoît Mahy () and Francois Rycx
Additional contact information
Benoît Mahy: University of Mons

No 12449, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper provides first evidence on the impact of a direct measure of firm-level upstreamness (i.e. the steps before the production of a firm meets final demand) on workers' wages. It also investigates whether results vary along the earnings distribution and by gender. Findings, based on unique matched employer-employee data relative to the Belgian manufacturing industry for the period 2002-2010, show that workers earn significantly higher wages when employed in more upstream firms. Yet, the gains from upstreamness are found to be very unequally shared among workers. Unconditional quantile estimates suggest that male top-earners are the main beneficiaries, whereas women, irrespective of their earnings, appear to be unfairly rewarded. Quantile decompositions further show that these differences in wage premia account for a substantial part of the gender wage gap, especially at the top of the earnings' distribution.

Keywords: upstreamness; global value chains; wages; gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F61 F66 J16 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2019-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-eur, nep-gen, nep-int and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - published in: British Journal of Industrial Relations, 2021, 59 (1), 52-83

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Related works:
Journal Article: Upstreamness, Wages and Gender: Equal Benefits for All? (2021)
Working Paper: Upstreamness, Wages and Gender: Equal Benefits for All? (2021)
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