Older Working Persons and the Gender Pay Gap: Estimations Using Gender Norm Variables in Peru

Abstract

This study investigated the gender pay gap in Peru among older working persons, i.e. sixty years of age and older, who represent more than half of this population. Cultural and social gender norm variables were incorporated as regressors in a Mincer-type income model. Household surveys for the period 2004–2021 were used to estimate the total gap and regional heterogeneities. Three gender norm variables substantially increase the explained portion of the gender pay gap in the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition. We find that the estimated pay gap among older working persons is 68 percent, larger than the gender pay gap for younger workers as documented in diverse contributions.