GENDER SEGREGATION BY OCCUPATION IN THE U.S.
Paige Hehl, UW Eau ClaireFaculty Mentor: Dr. David Schaffer
Previous Research
Some economic researchers have concluded that gender discrimination in the U.S. is essentially gone. Schaffer’s previous research suggested otherwise. Our research using a different set of statistical techniques and an enormous database supports the idea of continuing discrimination against women in the labor market.
Data
Data was obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS) for the years 1971-2006. (http://www.census.gov/cps/)
We have approximately 60,000 observations for each year.
Used Stata 10 & 11
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.000.00
0.03
0.06
0.09
0.12
0.15
0.18
0.21
0.24
0.27
0.30
Distribution of White Males and Females Across Occupation Categories, 2002
female distnmale distncombined distn
Oaxaca Decomposition
Regression of wage rate onto years of schooling and potential experience:
Differential due to Discrimination
Differential due to differences in human capital
Method 1: Extending Oaxaca Decomposing further to obtain
differential due to gender segregation We used three types of occupations
A: Occupations with less than 30% female workers
B: Occupations with 30-70% female workers C: Occupations with more than 70% female
Actual wage gap calculated as A∆= ∑[(NiM/NM)lnWiM – (NiF/NF)lnWiF]
A∆= H+D+S H= differential due to differences in
human capital D= differential due to discrimination S= differential due to gender
segregation
H= ∑ βiM(XiM – XiF) (Ni/N)
D= ∑(βiM-βiF)XiF (Ni/N)
S= ∑ {[(NiM/NM)-(Ni/N)]lnWiM – [(NiF/NF)-(Ni/N)]lnWiF}
Need program for more categories
Results from Decomposing
1971 A∆= 0.546149
(actual logwage gap)
H= 0.017139 D= 0.453878 S= 0.075132 S is about 13.8% of
A∆
2002 A∆= 0.281517
(actual logwage gap)
H= -0.008705 D= 0.225145 S= 0.06507
S is about 23.1% of A∆
Method 2:Regression Analysis with Additional Variables
Regressed certain variables against the natural log of wages
Used years of education, potential experience, fraction-female, average occupation education, and others
Restricted the wages between $2 - $200 (an hour) to eliminate some of the variance
Used weighted averages
Additional Variables 500 occupation categories
determined by the Census Bureau Fraction-female (within each occupation) Average education (within each
occupation)
Fraction-Female Coefficients 2006 Fraction Female Males Females
0-.10 0.000 0.000.11-.20 -0.131 -0.132.21-.30 -0.099 -0.132.31-.40 -0.130 -0.157.41-.50 -0.174 -0.265.51-.60 -0.219 -0.279.61-.70 -0.275 -0.341.71-.80 -0.272 -0.316.81-.90 -0.293 -0.318
.91-1.00 -0.343 -0.322
1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007
-0.35
-0.30
-0.25
-0.20
-0.15
-0.10
-0.05
0.00
White Males: 7-period wgtd. moving avg.
0.15Linear (0.15)0.25Linear (0.25)0.35Linear (0.35)0.45Linear (0.45)0.55Linear (0.55)0.65Linear (0.65)0.75Linear (0.75)0.85Linear (0.85)0.95Linear (0.95)
1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007
-0.35
-0.30
-0.25
-0.20
-0.15
-0.10
-0.05
0.00
White Females: 7-period wgtd moving avg
0.15Linear (0.15)0.25Linear (0.25)0.35Linear (0.35)0.45Linear (0.45)0.55Linear (0.55)0.65Linear (0.65)0.75Linear (0.75)0.85Linear (0.85)0.95Linear (0.95)
Interpretations Types of Discrimination
Pure Discrimination Gender Segregation Penalty
It has always been the case that wages decrease as you move to a more female job
The size of the wage gap has increased over time
Jobs have become less segregated, but the wage penalty has gotten larger for being in the more female segregated jobs.
Citations
Borjas, George. Labor Economics. 5th. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2008. Print.
Fluckiger, Yves, and Jacques Silber. The Measurement of Segregation in the Labor Force. Germany: Physica-Verlag Heidelberg, 1999. Print.