The gender wage gap in Australia: causes, costs, and the future?

Transcription

1 The gender wage gap in Australia: causes, costs, and the future? Presentation to the CEDA Women in Leadership workshop series, Melbourne, October 20 th 2010 Professor Alan Duncan Director, National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM)

2 Australian women have come far More educated than ever Higher labour force participation Greater employment in professional occupations Fought for and achieved equality in many areas 2

3 But still divisions Income Wealth and superannuation Unpaid work Representation in senior positions 3

4 Women's income as a proportion of total income 4

5 Lifetime earnings - implications for Super 5

6 Wage Gap (%) Raw average gender wage gap over time Year Note: This figure reports the mean gender wage gap, calculated for full time, ordinary time adult employees, using original data. The reference period for data used in this figure is February for each year. Source: ABS Average Weekly Earnings, Data cube, 2009, Cat No

7 Gender wage gaps issues Basic issue raw differences alone do not demonstrate discrimination decomposition analysis required to uncover possible sources of gender wage differences Further issues what is the true non-discriminatory wage structure? relationship between job seniority and gender wage gaps? what implications for the Australian economy? 7

8 Gender wage gaps possible causes Different work-related characteristics, labour market patterns/histories between genders ( explained ) Women disproportionately selecting into employment with lower financial rewards ( behavioural ) Women value non-pecuniary job attributes more highly, or more willing to accept non-pecuniary rewards ( subjective ) Different labour market returns to equivalent job-related characteristics between genders ( discrimination ) Occupational segregation ( group effects ) 8

9 Finding the determinants 9

10 Acknowledgements Reported research Recent work by NATSEM, funded by the Office for Women (FaHCSIA) Authors Rebecca Cassells, Justine McNamara, Riyana Miranti, Yogi Vidyattama Disclaimer Results in this presentation use unit record data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The HILDA Project was initiated and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and is managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (MIAESR). The findings and views reported in this presentation, however, are those of the authors and should not be attributed to either FaHCSIA or the MIAESR. 10

11 Methodology Finding the determinants: Identify job and worker characteristics that serve to explain gender wage differences Differentiate between explained and unexplained components of gender wage gaps Olsen-Walby technique (Olsen and Walby 2004, p.69) which focuses on hypothetically moving the market in ways that equalise men s and women s experiences Sample: wage earners (full and part-time) from HILDA We excluded people who were self-employed people, people aged below 21 years, and those aged 65 years and above. We also excluded people with unusually low or high hourly wages. 11

12 Selected characteristics Mean Mean Difference Males Females Time in paid work (years) hours per week (%) hours per week (%) hours per week (%) hours per week (%) Bachelor qualification (%) Vocational qualification (%) Year 12 or lower qualification (%) Occupational segregation (average level) Industry segregation (average level) Tenure in current occupation (years) Tenure with current employer (years) Firm size: Less than 20 employed (%) Firm size: employed (%) Firm size: employed (%) Firm size: 500+ employed (%) Source: Authors calculations from HILDA, 2007, Wave 7 unit record data 12

13 Key determinants of average gender wage gap being a woman (60%) Industry segregation (predominance of men working with men and women with women ) (25%) Labour force history (time in paid work, tenure in current occupation and with current employer) (7%) Vocational qualification (the lower proportion of women with a vocational qualification) (5%) Firm size (higher proportion of women working in smaller firms) (3%) Additional controls: Number and ages of children; marital status; longterm health conditions; work schedule; unionisation; public/private sector; urban/rural residence 13

14 Simulated effect of moving Australian women to average situation of Australian men Simulated change as a % of the pay gap Cents/hour equivalent $/35 hour week Per year % $ $ $ Labour force history Vocational qualification Industry segregation Firm size Female Note: The proportion of the overall wage gap is measured as the simulated change in the characteristics of women to that of the average situation of men multiplied by the reward or coefficient for that particular characteristic. Figures may not add to total due to rounding. The total gap has been derived using selected variables only. The wage gap of $3.13 per hour has been derived from the difference between the average wage of men and women for all wage earners. Source: Authors calculations from HILDA, Wave 7 unit record data 14

15 Average gender wage gap - implications? Simply being a woman exerts a large negative effect on average wage (60% of the difference). But what does this mean? Differential rewards may be due to discrimination May also be attributable to other gender differences that are either harder to observe, or inherently unobservable Motivation and work/life focus self-esteem value/reward from non-pecuniary job attributes Average gender wage gaps may stem from particular discrepancies at specific points in the earnings distribution, or at specific levels of seniority 15

16 Wage gaps across the earnings/seniority distribution 16

17 Where is gender wage gap most severe? Some studies have looked to drill down those levels of remuneration that appear to show the most severe unexplained or discriminatory wage differentials Baron and Cobb-Clark (2008) find gender wage gaps for low-paid workers in Australia to be explained largely by job-related characteristics ( explained ) but... Gender pay gaps for highly-paid workers in the private sector are explained only partly by job-related characteristics, and... Job-related characteristics explain none of the wage differentials for highly-paid workers in the public sector 17

18 Where is gender wage gap most severe? Glass ceilings? Watson (2010) finds that women managers in full-time employment earn 27% less than their male counterparts, and between 65 90% of the gap is unexplained by characteristics ; He reports evidence of a plateau in female rewards to labour market experience, and conjectures a glass ceiling whereby movement from middle to senior management is blocked for women relative to men Kee (2006) differentiates unexplained gender wage differentials across sectors, and across quantiles of the income distribution, and reports that discrimination rises systematically with the level of earnings 18

19 How much would annual wage gap of $18,400 among female managers close if: Source: Watson (2010) 19

20 unexplained gender pay gaps over quantiles of the earnings distribution (%, by sector) Source: Kee (2006) Table 3 including full set of controls 20

21 The gender wage gap and growth 21

22 Can one project the costs of gender wage gaps on economic growth? the impact of gender inequality on macroeconomic outcomes has more frequently focused on gender equality in education (e.g. Barro and Lee, 1994; Barro and Sala-i-Martin, 1995; Hill and King, 1995; Klasen, 1999, 2002; Dollar and Gatti, 1999; Lagerlof, 2003; Dowrick, 2003) several studies have begun to focus on the potential impacts of the gender wage gap on economic wellbeing (Seguino, 2000; Walby and Olsen, 2002; Cavalcanti and Tavares, 2007; Caro, 2008) 22

23 Methodology One possible approach (Cassells et al. 2009) projects the effects of reducing gender wage gaps on economic growth using a neoclassical growth model: ABS data from 1985 to 2008 (including aggregate gender wage gap) is used to estimate growth regression with GDP/capita as the main variable; Methodology looks at how direct and indirect channels of growth (through fertility, participation and productivity) are affected by gender wage inequalities. Note: does not take account of women s unpaid contributions to the economy Caution: short time series, limited variation in gender wage gaps (hence, hard to extrapolate too far...) 23

24 The wage gap and the economy Variables in the model: GDP/capita (outcome) Gender wage gap Hours of work Investment Labour participation Fertility rate Human capital (data limitations) 24

25 The wage gap and the economy Impact Coefficient Wage gap economic growth Wage gap investment economic growth ** Wage gap fertility economic growth Wage gap average hours of work economic growth Wage gap labour participation economic growth ** 0.222*** *** Total effects Note: ** significant at a confidence level of 95 per cent. Economic growth refers to economic growth of GDP per capita. The results should be read as, for example, a one percentage point increase in the gender wage gap reduces economic growth of GDP per capita by per cent. Source: Authors calculations 25

26 Results On the linear assumptions of the underlying economic growth model, Cassells et al projects that a one percent reduction in the gender wage gap will lead to: a direct effect of a one quarter of one percent increase in economic growth, and... indirect effects (through investment, fertility, labour hours and participation) that cumulate to a one quarter of one percent increase in economic growth: Taken together, this simulation implies that a reduction in the gender wage gap of one percentage point could increase GDP by around $4.4billion each year Caveats as above.. Simulated results only, on a short series of aggregate data 26

27 Discussion - Macro results show that increasing hours of work is significant channel through which a lower gender wage gap would affect economic growth but working more hours in itself complex child care availability and affordability, gendered division of household labour, work-life balance - What type of change? E.g. in relation to industry segregation, is the answer to reduce segregation or to raise wages in femaledominated industries? - More research questions to answer (e.g. further examination of industries, income levels, contribution of part-time work) 27

28 Will it ever go? 28

29 Gender wage gaps for Gen Y High hopes for Gen Y women Highly qualified and employed Confident and proactive attitudes Wage gap should if anything be reversed 29

30 Acknowledgements Authors: Rebecca Cassells, Anne Daly & Justine McNamara This presentation uses unit record data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The HILDA Project was initiated and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and is managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (MIAESR). The findings and views reported in this presentation, however, are those of the authors and should not be attributed to either FaHCSIA or the MIAESR. 30

31 Methodology Explore gender wage gaps among (broadly) Gen Y s Aged in 2002 Aged in 2005 Aged in 2008 Beginning of careers, with a clear career progression. Excludes those studying full-time in any period, those with very low wage rate. Preliminary results only 31

32 Decomposition Applies similar Oaxaca-Blinder-Ransom methodology to decompose explained and unexplained components relative to a pooled non-discriminatory wage Variables human capital, job characteristics Gender wage gap has reversed in 2002, reverts back in 2005 & Explained versus unexplained. Average wages of men relative to women (%) Unadjusted Wage Gap (log hourly wages) Explained Component (Xm-Xf)β* Unexplained Component Xm(βm-β*)+(β*-βf)Xf

33 Overall presentation summary Gender age gap is persistent, with some evidence of greater differentials at higher levels of earnings/seniority Little evidence that wage gap is disappearing anytime soon Main key determinant is being a woman, with research speculating on how much is due to direct discrimination Potentially significant costs to the economy 33

34 Office for Women paper available at: or s: 34

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