High school experiences, the gender wage gap, and the selection of occupation

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I EIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.IZA Discussion Paper No. 9277 August 2015 ABSTRACTHigh School Experiences, the Gender Wage Gap, and the Selection of Occupation * Using within-high-school variation and controlling for a measure of cognitive ability, this paper finds that high-school leadership experiences explain a significant portion of the residual gender wage gap and selection into management occupations. Our results imply that highschool leadership could build non-cognitive, productive skills that are rewarded years later in the labor market and that explain a portion of the systematic difference in pay between men and women. Alternatively, high-school leadership could be a proxy variable for personality characteristics that differ between men and women and that drive higher pay and becoming a manager. Because high school leadership experiences are exogenous to direct labor market experiences, our results leave less room for direct labor market discrimination as a driver of the gender wage gap and occupation selection.JEL Classification: J16, J31

The contribution of personality traits and social norms to the gender pay gap: A systematic literature review

“…Chowdhury et al. (2019), Balcar and Hedija (2019), Biron and Hanuka (2018), Grönlund and Magnusson (2018), Strain and Webber (2017), Lott and Chung (2016), Janssen et al. (2016), Tinsley et al.…”

“…Women do neither reap the benefits of working‐time autonomy (Lott & Chung, 2016) or of working from home (Tinsley et al, 2015). But self‐efficacy and leadership experience during adolescence payoff for women and not for men (Biron & Hanuka, 2018; Strain & Webber, 2017). Table A2 in the Appendix provides a more detailed summary of the magnitude of the effects of personality traits and social norms on earnings.…”

“…It is a rather crude approach to analyzing gender differences as it cannot fully capture differences between gender but it is frequently used in this area of research. Chowdhury et al (2019), Balcar and Hedija (2019), Biron and Hanuka (2018), Grönlund and Magnusson (2018), Strain and Webber (2017), Lott and Chung (2016), Janssen et al (2016), Tinsley et al (2015), Judge et al (2012), Linz and Semykina (2009), Judge and Livingston (2008), Polavieja (2008), and Srinivas (2007) focus their analysis on this approach.…”

“…Thus, they can draw on relatively large samples and analyze differences between full-and part-time workers as well as differences between cohorts. Some studies, however, focus on young adults to better understand wage dynamics upon labour market entry (Bensidoun & Trancart, 2018;Fortin, 2008;Kleinjans et al, 2017;Manning & Swaffield, 2008;Strain & Webber, 2017). This is particularly important to understand as the pay gap upon labour market entry tends to have long-term effects.…”

Gender wage gap in small islands: Effect of a policy framework in Mauritius

“…The economic rationale for studying the wage gap is that social welfare maximization occurs when all productive resources, including human resources, are fully utilized. Gender wage gaps are of interest to economists, as they provide a better picture of the strength of the wage-productivity link, the drivers of productivity and occupation selection among others (Strain & Webber, 2017). Gender discrimination leads to lower efficiency, as skilled labor is wasted.…”