Beyond the Average Gender Pay Gap: Three New Analyses of Women’S Labour Market Outcomes
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Beyond the Average Gender Pay Gap: Three New Analyses of Women's Labour Market Outcomes by Ying-Fen Lin A thesis submitted to the University of Sheffield for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Economics December, 2013 Abstract Despite repeated commitments to promote gender equality in the United Na- tions and elsewhere, women are still not as favoured as men in many dimensions, including the labour market. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the changing female relative labour market outcomes. This thesis is made up of three empirical studies. The first empirical study describes and analyses the impact on the inter- national gender wage differentials, measured at the mean, of globalisation and the development of social openness, and how such impact has been changing over time across different income and development levels and across different cultural back- grounds. The objective of the second empirical study is to understand the variation in the gender differential in employment in Japan, and investigate the relationship between such variation and the development of technology. The third empirical study determines the evolution of the UK gender gap at the top end of the wage distribution in relation to different labour market sectors, occupations, and different cohort groups, both within cohorts over their work lives, and across cohorts. The results indicate that the effect on gender wage differentials of the develop- ment of the economy and technology vary across different regions and skill levels of workers. Having higher human capital accumulation or working in higher level jobs is not always positively associated with good female labour market outcomes. More stringent policy enforcement benefits the majority of women in terms of wages, but such effects are found to be relatively weak for the women at the top decile of the female wage distribution and more recent generations. Societal constraints do not only limit female progress in the labour market but also the positive impact of female politicians. 1 Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisors Dr. Steve McIntosh and Prof. Andy Dickerson for their expert guidance and constant support and encouragement during my PhD process. It has been more than an honour to be their PhD student. I would also like to thank my Masters supervisor Chris Webber for his unwavering encouragement and kindness throughout my time in the UK. I am grateful to Prof. Aki Tsuchiya for her unselfish support and thoughtfulness as well as all of the assistance I have received from the Department of Economics. I am greatly thankful to many of my fun and very kind PhD colleagues, partic- ularly Elham Saeidinezhad, Helen Bell, Maurizio Intartaglia, and Jing Di, for their immense contribution to my personal and professional time. Special thank you to my friends and family, who have always shown a great amount of support and belief in me. I am particularly grateful to Chun-Chieh Kuan, Wen Kai Hsiao, Eugene Fan, Elsa Au, Kyoka Frost, Ali Wahoud, Suhail Khoury, Zaid Khoury, and Nada Sayedrasas, for being brilliant friends and their invaluable support and reassurance. Most of all, I would like to thank my sisters and TBland for their love and encouragement that gave me confidence to overcome any problems I faced. 2 Contents Abstract1 Acknowledgements2 Table of Contents3 List of Tables7 List of Figures 10 1 Introduction 11 1.1 Aims and Objectives........................... 11 1.2 Motivation behind the Research Questions............... 15 1.2.1 Globalisation and Technology .................. 16 1.2.2 Human Capital Accumulation and Labour Market Segmentation 18 1.2.3 Institutional and Cultural Constraints ............. 20 1.3 Structure and Content of the Thesis................... 21 1.3.1 Chapter 2............................. 21 1.3.2 Chapter 3............................. 22 1.3.3 Chapter 4............................. 24 1.4 Conclusion................................. 25 2 The Impact of Trade and Culture on the International Gender Wage Gap 26 Summary .................................... 26 2.1 Introduction................................ 27 2.2 Literature Review............................. 30 2.2.1 The Effect of Trade Globalisation on Gender Wage Inequality 30 2.2.2 The Effect of Culture on Gender Wage Inequality . 36 2.3 Research Framework for Meta-Analysis................. 41 2.3.1 Estimating Gender Wage Differentials.............. 43 3 2.3.2 Meta-Data............................. 46 2.3.3 Meta-Regression Analysis .................... 49 2.3.4 Econometric Considerations for MRA.............. 50 2.4 Estimating the Effects of Trade Globalisation and Culture on the Gender Pay Gap ............................. 52 2.4.1 Data................................ 52 2.4.2 Basic Regression Model ..................... 53 2.4.3 Regression Model with Interaction Terms............ 54 2.5 Results of Meta-Regression Analysis................... 55 2.5.1 OLS Model ............................ 55 2.5.2 Fixed Effects ........................... 57 2.6 The Effect of Trade Globalisation and Culture on the Gender Pay Gap 60 2.6.1 Basic Regression Model ..................... 60 2.6.2 Testing for Trade Effects on the Gender Pay Residual in Dif- ferent Development Economies ................. 63 2.6.3 Testing for Societal Effects on the Gender Pay Residual in Different Cultural Backgrounds and Development Economies . 65 2.7 Conclusion................................. 66 Appendix 2A .................................. 87 3 The Effect of Technical Change on Gender Employment Differ- entials: The Case of Japan 96 Summary .................................... 96 3.1 Introduction................................ 97 3.2 The Evolution of Japan's Economy ...................101 3.3 The Changing Patterns of Japan's Labour Market . 103 3.4 The Effect of Technical Change on Jobs . 113 3.5 Data....................................118 3.6 Methodology ...............................121 3.6.1 Decomposition ..........................121 3.6.2 Regression.............................124 4 3.6.3 Interaction Terms.........................126 3.7 Results...................................128 3.7.1 Decomposition ..........................128 3.7.2 Basic Regression Model .....................132 3.7.3 Testing for Skill Biased Technical Change . 135 3.7.4 Testing for Task Biased Technical Change . 136 3.7.5 Regression of the Within Sector Changes in Different Periods . 138 3.8 Conclusion.................................140 Appendix 3A ..................................163 4 The Evolution of the UK Glass Ceiling 184 Summary ....................................184 4.1 Introduction................................185 4.2 Literature Review.............................189 4.2.1 Female Relative Labour Market Outcomes in Top-Level Jobs . 189 4.2.2 The Gender Gap across the Wage Distribution . 191 4.2.3 Cohort Effects on the Glass Ceiling . 193 4.2.4 Limitations of the Empirical Literature and the Motivations behind this Chapter .......................194 4.3 Data....................................195 4.3.1 The New Earnings Survey....................196 4.3.2 The Labour Force Survey ....................199 4.3.3 Creating a Consistent Occupational Classification . 199 4.3.4 Creating the Relative Wage Data (The Measure of the `Glass Ceiling')..............................200 4.4 Methodology ...............................202 4.4.1 The Cohort Analysis.......................202 4.4.2 Regression: Relative Position Changes by Individuals . 205 4.4.3 Regression: Relative Position by Occupations .........207 4.5 Cohort Analysis..............................209 4.5.1 The Mean Wage .........................209 5 4.5.2 The Locations of Glass Ceilings . 214 4.6 The Shifting Patterns of the UK Glass Ceilings by Occupations, Age and Cohort Groups at Individual Levels . 219 4.6.1 Descriptive Analysis .......................219 4.6.2 Relative Position Changes by Individuals . 220 4.7 The Shifting Patterns of the UK Glass Ceilings by Occupations, Age and Cohort Groups at Occupation Levels . 226 4.8 Conclusion.................................231 Appendix 4A ..................................245 5 Conclusion 261 5.1 Summary of Empirical Findings.....................261 5.1.1 Chapter 2.............................261 5.1.2 Chapter 3.............................263 5.1.3 Chapter 4.............................264 5.1.4 Overall Summary.........................266 5.2 Implications of Findings .........................267 5.2.1 Implications of the Development of the World Economy and Technology ............................267 5.2.2 Labour Market Implications...................269 5.2.3 Implications of Institutional and Cultural Constraints . 272 5.2.4 Summary of Implications.....................274 5.3 Limitations of Thesis...........................275 5.4 Implications for Further Research....................278 References 280 Meta-Data References 295 6 List of Tables Table 2.1 Female/Male Wage Ratio ..................... 74 Table 2.2 Descriptive Statistics. Unit of Observation: the 2487 Estimates from within Papers......................... 75 Table 2.3 Meta Regression .......................... 78 Table 2.4 Fixed Effects Model ........................ 80 Table 2.5 The Effect of Trade Openness and Women in National Parlia- ments on the Residual Gender Wage Gap............. 82 Table 2.6 The Effect of Trade Openness and Women in National Parlia- ments on Residual Gender Wage Gap by Sectors......... 83 Table 2.7 The Interactive Effect of Trade and Different Development Lev-