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Ham, John C., Xianghong Li & Lara D. Shore-Sheppard (2016): The employment dynamics of disadvantaged women. Evidence from the SIPP. In: Journal of labor economics, Jg. 34, H. 4, S. 899-944. DOI:10.1086/686274

Abstract

"Understanding the employment dynamics of disadvantaged families is increasingly important. We estimate duration models describing these dynamics for disadvantaged single mothers and use them to conduct a rich set of counterfactual analyses. We use a misreporting model to correct for 'seam bias,' the problem that too many transitions are reported between reference periods in panel data. We find effects of demographics, minimum wages, unemployment rates, and maximum welfare benefits, but not policy changes introduced through state welfare waivers, on employment dynamics. We find that two commonly used ad hoc methods of addressing seam bias perform substantially worse than our approach." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Hunt, Jennifer (2016): Why do women leave science and engineering? In: ILR Review, Jg. 69, H. 1, S. 199-226. DOI:10.1177/0019793915594597

Abstract

"The author uses the 2003 and 2010 National Survey of College Graduates to examine the higher exit rate of women compared to men from science and engineering relative to other fields. The author finds that the higher relative exit rate is driven by engineering rather than science, and that half the gap can be explained by the relatively greater exit rate from engineering of women dissatisfied with pay and promotion opportunities. Family-related constraints and dissatisfaction with working conditions are found to be only secondary factors. The relative exit rate by gender from engineering does not differ from that of other fields once women's relatively high exit rates from male fields generally are taken into account." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Levanon, Asaf & David B. Grusky (2016): The persistence of extreme gender segregation in the twenty-first century. In: American Journal of Sociology, Jg. 122, H. 2, S. 573-619. DOI:10.1086/688628

Abstract

"Why is there so much occupational sex segregation in the 21st century? The authors cast light on this question by using the O*NET archive of occupation traits to operationalize the concepts of essentialism and vertical inequality more exhaustively than in past research. When the new model is applied to recent U.S. Census data, the results show that much vertical segregation remains even after the physical, analytic, and interactional forms of essentialism are controlled; that essentialism nonetheless accounts for much more of total segregation than does vertical inequality; that the physical and interactional forms of segregation are especially strong; that the physical form of essentialism is one of the few examples of female-advantaging segregation; and that essentialism takes on a fractal structure that generates much finely detailed segregation at detailed occupational levels. The authors conclude by discussing how essentialist processes partly account for the intransigence of occupational sex segregation." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Liu, Kai (2016): Explaining the gender wage gap. Estimates from a dynamic model of job changes and hours changes. In: Quantitative economics, Jg. 7, H. 2, S. 411-447. DOI:10.3982/QE295

Abstract

"I address the causes of the gender wage gap with a new dynamic model of wage, hours, and job changes that permits me to decompose the gap into a portion due to gender differences in preferences for hours of work and in constraints. The dynamic model allows the differences in constraints to reflect possible gender differences in job arrival rates, job destruction rates, the mean and variance of the wage offer distribution, and the wage cost of part-time work. The model is estimated using the 1996 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation. I find that the preference for part-time work increases with marriage and number of children among women but not among men. These demographic factors explain a sizable fraction of the gender gap in employment, but they explain no more than 6 percent of the gender wage gap. Differences in constraints, mainly in the form of the mean offered wages and rates of job arrival and destruction, explain most of the gender wage gap. Policy simulation results suggest that, relative to reducing the wage cost of part-time work, providing additional employment protection to part-time jobs is more effective in reducing the gender wage gap." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Lordan, Grace & Jörn-Steffen Pischke (2016): Does Rosie like riveting? Male and female occupational choices. (NBER working paper 22495), Cambrige, Mass., 36 S. DOI:10.3386/w22495

Abstract

"Occupational segregation and pay gaps by gender remain large while many of the constraints traditionally believed to be responsible for these gaps have weakened over time. Here, we explore the possibility that women and men have different tastes for the content of the work they do. We run regressions of job satisfaction on the share of males in an occupation. Overall, there is a strong negative relationship between female satisfaction and the share of males. This relationship is fairly stable across different specifications and contexts, and the magnitude of the association is not attenuated by personal characteristics or other occupation averages. Notably, the effect is muted for women but largely unchanged for men when we include three measures that proxy the content and context of the work in an occupation, which we label 'people,' 'brains,' and 'brawn.' These results suggest that women may care more about job content, and this is a possible factor preventing them from entering some male dominated professions. We continue to find a strong negative relationship between female satisfaction and the occupation level share of males in a separate analysis that includes share of males in the firm. This suggests that we are not just picking up differences in the work environment, although these seem to play an independent and important role as well." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Lusardi, Annamaria & Olivia S. Mitchell (2016): Older women's labor market attachment, retirement planning, and household debt. (NBER working paper 22606), Cambrige, Mass., 36 S. DOI:10.3386/w22606

Abstract

"The goal of this paper is to ascertain whether older women's current and anticipated future labor force patterns have changed over time, and if so, to evaluate the factors associated with longer work lives and plans to continue work at older ages. Using data from both the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), we show that older women's current and intended future labor force attachment patterns are changing over time. Specifically, compared to our 1992 HRS baseline, more recent cohorts of women in their 50's and 60s's are more likely to plan to work longer. When we explore the reasons for delayed retirement among older women, factors include education, more marital disruption, and fewer children than prior cohorts. But household finances also play a key role, in that older women today have more debt than previously and are more financially fragile than in the past. The NFCS data show that factors associated with retirement planning include having more education and greater financial literacy. Those who report excessive amounts of debt and are financially fragile are the least financially literate, had more dependent children, and experienced income shocks. Thus shocks do play a role in older women's debt status, but it is not enough to have resources: people also need the capacity to manage those resources if they are to stay out of debt as they head into retirement." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Mandel, Hadas & Moshe Semyonov (2016): Going back in time? Gender differences in trends and sources of the racial pay gap, 1970 to 2010. In: American Sociological Review, Jg. 81, H. 5, S. 1039-1068. DOI:10.1177/0003122416662958

Abstract

"Using IPUMS data for five decennial years between 1970 and 2010, we delineate and compare the trends and sources of the racial pay gap among men and women in the U.S. labor force. Decomposition of the pay gap into components underscores the significance of the intersection between gender and race; we find meaningful gender differences in the composition of the gap and in the gross and the net earnings gaps -- both are much larger among men than among women. Despite these differences, the over-time trend is strikingly similar for both genders. Racial gaps sharply declined between 1970 and 1980 and continued to decline, but at a slower rate, until 2000. However, at the turn of the millennium, the trend reversed for both gender groups. The growth of the racial pay gap at the turn of the millennium is attributable to the increase in overall income inequality, stagnation in occupational segregation, and an increase in the unexplained portion of the gap, a portion we attribute to economic discrimination." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Mecikovsky, Ariel & Felix Wellschmied (2016): Wage risk, employment risk and the rise in wage inequality. (IZA discussion paper 10451), Bonn, 48 S.

Abstract

"We estimate the changes in US male labor market risk over the last three decades in a model of endogenous labor supply and job mobility. Across education groups permanent shocks to productivity have become more dispersed. Moreover, heterogeneity in pay across offered jobs has increased for workers with at least some college education. Simulating these changes in a life-cycle model with search frictions, we show that the estimated changes in risk can account for 85 percent of the increase in within group wage inequality. The welfare costs of rising risk are small." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Munsch, Christin L. (2016): Flexible work, flexible penalties. The effect of gender, childcare, and type of request on the flexibility bias. In: Social forces, Jg. 94, H. 4, S. 1567-1591. DOI:10.1093/sf/sov122

Abstract

"Although flexible work arrangements have the potential to reduce gender inequality and work-family conflict, the implications of requesting flexible work are poorly understood. In this paper, I argue that because flexwork arrangements in the United States are ambiguous and uncertain, people draw on cultural beliefs about gender to define flexwork and evaluate flexworkers. I conducted a controlled online experiment to examine the consequences of making a flexible work request and to examine how these consequences vary by accommodation type and by gender and parental status of the requester. Participants evaluated employees who requested flexible work more negatively than employees who did not request flexible work, and evaluated workers who requested telecommuting (or 'flexplace') arrangements more negatively than workers who requested flextime arrangements. Men and women who requested flexible work for reasons related to childcare were evaluated more positively than those who requested flexible work for reasons unrelated to childcare. I also found evidence of a fatherhood bonus. Men who made flexplace requests to care for a child were significantly advantaged compared to men who made flexplace requests for reasons unrelated to childcare. They were also advantaged compared to women who made flexplace requests to care for a child." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Olivetti, Claudia & Dana E. Rotz (2016): Changes in marriage and divorce as drivers of employment and retirement of older women. (NBER working paper 22738), Cambrige, Mass., 48 S.

Abstract

"We study associations among women's current marital status, past marital history, and later-life labor force participation. We first document these relationships using data from the 1986 to 2008 waves of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). We then exploit variation in laws governing divorce across states and over time to quasi-experimentally identify how the timing of an exogenous increase in divorce risk (that is, the introduction of unilateral divorce) impacts employment and retirement outcomes for older women. The spread of unilateral divorce, we find, was associated with cross-cohort differences in the probability of divorce over the lifecycle. For women with a low risk of divorce, later exposure to unilateral divorce significantly increases the probability of full-time employment later in life, and significantly decreases retirement wealth. This finding suggests that ever-divorced women are working longer remedially; when a woman unexpectedly divorces later in life, she is less likely to have engaged in precautionary human capital investment and might have to work longer to increase her assets prior to retirement. For women with a high risk of divorce, later exposure to increases in divorce risk does not impact full-time employment after age 50 but is positively associated with investment in education post marriage. These women invest more in their own human capital within marriage, which might insure them against increases in exogenous divorce risk at later ages." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Olivetti, Claudia & Barbara Petrongolo (2016): The evolution of gender gaps in industrialized countries. (IZA discussion paper 9659), Bonn, 47 S.

Abstract

"Women in developed economies have made major inroads in labor markets throughout the past century, but remaining gender differences in pay and employment seem remarkably persistent. This paper documents long-run trends in female employment, working hours and relative wages for a wide cross-section of developed economies. It reviews existing work on the factors driving gender convergence, and novel perspectives on remaining gender gaps. The paper finally emphasizes the interplay between gender trends and the evolution of the industry structure. Based on a shift-share decomposition, it shows that the growth in the service share can explain at least half of the overall variation in female hours, both over time and across countries." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Pilkauskas, Natasha, Jane Waldfogel & Jeanne Brooks-Gunn (2016): Maternal labor force participation and differences by education. In: Demographic Research, Jg. 34, S. 407-420. DOI:10.4054/DemRes.2016.34.14

Abstract

"Background: Maternal labor force participation has increased dramatically over the last 40 years, yet surprisingly little is known about longitudinal patterns of maternal labor force participation in the years after a birth, or how these patterns vary by education.
Objective: We document variation by maternal education in mothers' labor force participation (timing, intensity, non-standard work, multiple job-holding) over the first nine years after the birth of a child.
Methods: We use the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N~3000) to predict longitudinal labor force participation in a recent longitudinal sample of mothers who gave birth in large US cities between 1998 and 2000. Families were followed until children were age 9, through 2010.
Results: Labor force participation gradually increases in the years after birth for mothers with high school or less education, whereas for mothers with some college or more, participation increases between ages 1 and 3 and then remains mostly stable thereafter. Mothers with less than high school education have the highest rates of unemployment (actively seeking work), which remain high compared with all other education groups, whose unemployment declines over time. Compared with all other education groups, mothers with some college have the highest rates of labor force participation, but also high rates of part-time employment, non-standard work, and multiple job-holding.
Contribution: Simple conceptualizations of labor force participation do not fully capture the dynamics of labor force attachment for mothers in terms of intensity, timing of entry, and type of work hours, as well as differences by maternal education." (Author's abstract, © Max-Planck-Institut für demographische Forschung) ((en))

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Wright, Tessa (2016): Women's experience of workplace interactions in male-dominated work. The intersections of gender, sexuality and occupational group. In: Gender, Work and Organization, Jg. 23, H. 3, S. 348-362. DOI:10.1111/gwao.12074

Abstract

"Informal workplace interactions are powerful organizational processes producing inequalities in male-dominated work, where sexuality is frequently employed as a means of control over women. The article considers whether women can derive support from interactions with male and female colleagues, drawing on qualitative research with women working in the UK construction and transport sectors. The article contributes an empirical application of McCall's intercategorical intersectional approach, examining gender, sexuality and occupational group. It highlights the benefits and challenges of extending McCall's multi-group method to qualitative analysis. Stereotypical associations of lesbians with 'masculine' work are challenged, showing how gendered and heterosexual norms constrain workplace interactions for both heterosexual women and lesbians. Therefore organizational measures should address not only formal workplace processes, but the informal interactions affecting women's survival in male-dominated work." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Abstract

"Time and time again it has been proven that more diverse organisations not only outperform those which are less diverse, but are also most likely to attract and retain the most talented professionals.
In addition, the link between women in the workplace and a country's economic growth is closely connected. Despite this, globally women are not paid or rewarded equally to their male colleagues and remain underrepresented in the workplace, as well as proportionally less represented in senior roles.
In compiling this report and recommendations, we spoke to over 11,500 women and men, asking their opinion and views on women in the world of work today.
While the findings vary by country and by sector, we have discovered common themes and sometimes surprising results about what can be done by business leaders today to ensure that women continue to advance in their careers and achieve better representation at senior levels. Our findings are also accompanied with insight from a number of successful women at the top of their professions, who share their experience from both a personal and professional perspective. Although gender diversity has improved and we have seen less of a disparity in the views and experiences between men and women, when compared to our 2015 report, our research shows that organisations can still do significantly more to narrow the gap. They hold the key to advancing women in the workplace and have an opportunity and responsibility to close the gender divide.
This report has been compiled using data gathered between November 2015 and January 2016. The findings of our gender diversity report are based on a survey of over 11,500 male and female respondents from across the world (57% female, 42% male and 1% preferring not to say).
We have used country specific data where there was a minimum of 100 responses per country: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Addison, John T., Orgul D. Ozturk & Si Wang (2015): The occupational feminization of wages. (IZA discussion paper 9078), Bonn, 42 S.

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." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Adema, Willem, Chris Clarke & Valérie Frey (2015): Paid parental leave. Lessons from OECD countries and selected U.S. States. (OECD social, employment and migration working papers 172), Paris, 130 S. DOI:10.1787/5jrqgvqqb4vb-en

Abstract

"The United States is at a crossroads in its policies towards the family and gender equality. Currently America provides basic support for children, fathers, and mothers in the form of unpaid parental leave, child-related tax breaks, and limited public childcare. Alternatively, the United States' OECD peers empower families through paid parental leave and comprehensive investments in infants and children. The potential gains from strengthening these policies are enormous. Paid parental leave and subsidised childcare help get and keep more women in the workforce, contribute to economic growth, offer cognitive and health benefits to children, and extend choice for parents in finding their preferred work-life strategy. Indeed, the United States has been falling behind the rest of the OECD in many social and economic indicators by not adequately investing in children, fathers and mothers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Albrecht, James, Aico van Vuuren & Susan Vroman (2015): The black - white wage gap among young women in 1990 vs. 2011. The role of selection and educational attainment. In: Labour economics, Jg. 33, H. April, S. 66-71. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2015.02.006

Abstract

"In this paper, we compare the black - white median log wage gap for women aged 26 - 31 in 1990 and 2011. Two stylized facts emerge. First, the pattern of selection in the two years is similar -- the gaps observed among women employed in 1990 and 2011 substantially understate the gaps that would have been observed had all 26 - 31 year-old women been working in those years. Second, both the median log wage gap observed in the data and the selection-corrected gap increased substantially between the two years, a fact that can be mostly attributed to changes in the distributions of educational attainment among young black and white women." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Baudin, Thomas, David de la Croix & Paula E. Gobbi (2015): Fertility and childlessness in the United States. In: The American economic review, Jg. 105, H. 6, S. 1852-1882. DOI:10.1257/aer.20120926

Abstract

"We develop a theory of fertility, distinguishing its intensive margin from its extensive margin. The deep parameters are identified using facts from the 1990 US Census: (i) fertility of mothers decreases with education; (ii) childlessness exhibits a U-shaped relationship with education; (iii) the relationship between marriage rates and education is hump-shaped for women and increasing for men. We estimate that 2.5 percent of women were childless because of poverty and 8.1 percent because of high opportunity cost of childrearing. Over time, historical trends in total factor productivity and in education led to a U-shaped response in childlessness rates while fertility of mothers decreased." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Benson, Alan (2015): A theory of dual job search and sex-based occupational clustering. In: Industrial relations, Jg. 54, H. 3, S. 367-400. DOI:10.1111/irel.12095

Abstract

"This paper theorizes and provides evidence for the segregation of men into clustered occupations and women into dispersed occupations in advance of marriage and in anticipation of future colocation problems. Using the Decennial Census, and controlling for occupational characteristics, I find evidence of this general pattern of segregation, and also find that the minority of the highly educated men and women who depart from this equilibrium experience delayed marriage, higher divorce, and lower earnings. Results are consistent with the theory that marriage and mobility expectations foment a self-fulfilling pattern of occupational segregation with individual departures deterred by earnings and marriage penalties." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Bertrand, Marianne, Jessica Pan & Emir Kamenica (2015): Gender identity and relative income within households. In: The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Jg. 130, H. 2, S. 571- 614. DOI:10.1093/qje/qjv001

Abstract

"We examine causes and consequences of relative income within households. We establish that gender identity - in particular, an aversion to the wife earning more than the husband - impacts marriage formation, the wife's labor force participation, the wife's income conditional on working, marriage satisfaction, likelihood of divorce, and the division of home production. The distribution of the share of household income earned by the wife exhibits a sharp cliff at 0.5, which suggests that a couple is less willing to match if her income exceeds his. Within marriage markets, when a randomly chosen woman becomes more likely to earn more than a randomly chosen man, marriage rates decline. Within couples, if the wife's potential income (based on her demographics) is likely to exceed the husband's, the wife is less likely to be in the labor force and earns less than her potential if she does work. Couples where the wife earns more than the husband are less satisfied with their marriage and are more likely to divorce. Finally, based on time use surveys, the gender gap in non-market work is larger if the wife earns more than the husband." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))