Occupational prestige is an important yet understudied factor in gender labour market inequality. This study examines the relationship between the gender composition of occupations and the prestige of those occupations, and investigates whether men and women differ in their evaluations. A multilevel analysis based on German microdata generated two key findings. First, occupations that are predominantly male or female tend to be rated as more prestigious than mixed-gender occupations when controlling for pay and educational requirements, suggesting a segregation premium in the symbolic valuation of work in Germany. Second, there is no evidence of a gendered in-group bias in Germany; both men and women consider gender-segregated occupations to be more prestigious, with no preference for occupations dominated by their own gender.

PurposeThis article aims to examine whether specific job tasks measured at the individual level or personality traits are associated with wages and whether the relationship between personality traits and wages differs depending on the job tasks that individuals perform.Design/methodology/approachThis study analyzes the association between job tasks and personality traits, and their interaction, with regard to wages using German employee data from 2017/2018.FindingsResults suggest that nonroutine manual, interactive or analytic tasks are associated with significantly higher wages compared to routine manual tasks, and while extraversion and emotional stability are related to higher wages, agreeableness and openness tend to be associated with lower wages also within occupations. Moreover, the association between personality traits and wages varies depending on the job task requirements at the workplace. A high degree of extraversion in particular is associated with higher wages when the employee performs nonroutine manual, interactive or analytic tasks.Originality/valueTo date, especially the interaction between individual job tasks and personality traits on wages has not been extensively studied because data on both job tasks and personality at the employee level are scarce. This study contributes to the understanding of wage differences among employees.