Gender Inequality, Bargaining, and Pay in Care Services in the United States

Abstract

The authors argue that paid providers of care services in the United States (in health, education, and social service industries) are less able than providers of business services to capture value-added or to extract rents because limited consumer sovereignty, incomplete information regarding quality, and large positive externalities reduce their relative market power. In addition, many care jobs enforce normative responsibility for others and require specific skills that limit cross-industry mobility. Analysis of Current Population Survey data for 2014 to 2019 reveals significant pay penalties in care services relative to business services, controlling for factors such as gender, education, occupation, and public or private employment. Women’s concentration in care services explains a significant proportion of the gender wage gap and raises the possibility of significant potential benefits from industry-level bargaining strategies.

Care Data Infrastructure: A U.S. Case Study

“…Employees in health, education and social services in the U.S.—especially those in care occupations—earn significantly less than equally educated and otherwise similar counterparts in business services (Folbre et al . 2022a, 2022b). Care provision is often a source of subjective satisfaction, but this cannot be assumed to fully compensate for economic disadvantage.…”

“…Unfortunately, many empirical assessments of care provision are rendered incomplete by gaps and inconsistencies in existing survey data (Folbre and Wolf 2012a, 2012b; Folbre 2022; Folbre et al . 2022a, 2022b).…”

Environmental Engineering as Care for Human Welfare and Planetary Health

“…If our hypothesis is true, then we would expect to observe two patterns; one pattern in demographic data, and a second pattern in salary data. First, we would expect that environmental engineering would attract a larger fraction of women as compared to other subdisciplines of engineering as a result of women being disproportionately represented in jobs performing care work (Folbre et al, 2022). Second, we would expect to observe lower salaries among environmental engineers as compared to other sub-disciplines of engineering as a result of paying a care penalty (regardless of gender) (Folbre, 2012;Folbre, 2018).…”

Earnings inequality and the expansion of care services in the United States, 1985–2019

“…Most care occupations are located in care industries, and these occupations typically pay less than others, controlling for differences in gender, education and other covariates (Barron & West, 2013; Budig et al, 2019; England et al, 2002; Hirsch & Manzella, 2015). Employment in care services, even in professional and managerial occupations, is also associated with pay penalties, while employment in business services (especially financial services) is associated with pay premia (Bivens & Mishel, 2013; Folbre et al, 2023; Philippon & Reshef, 2012).…”