The Gender Pay Gap for Private Sector Employees in Canada and Britain

Marie Drolet () and Karen Mumford ()
Additional contact information
Marie Drolet: Statistics Canada

No 3957, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper uses British and Canadian linked employer-employee data to investigate the importance of the workplace for the gender wage gap. Implementing a novel decomposition approach, we find high levels of unexplained wage inequality in the private sector of both countries, which is related to women receiving relatively lower wages within workplaces than do men. Whilst this inequality is partially offset by women, on average, receiving a workplace specific return which is relatively higher than that paid to men, a substantial and significant unexplained within workplace wage gap remains which is considerably higher in Britain than in Canada. The results are consistent with a prima facie argument that country-specific factors, such as the wage setting environment, are important determinants in explaining the relative size of the gender wage gap.

Keywords: workplaces; gender earnings gap; Britain; Canada (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J0 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2009-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published - revised version published in British Journal of Industrial Relations, 2012, 50 (3), 529-553

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Gender Pay Gap for Private-Sector Employees in Canada and Britain (2012)
Working Paper: The Gender Pay Gap for Private Sector Employees in Canada and Britain
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