Roma women in Athenian firms: do they face wage bias?

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. www.econstor.eu In the current study, we analyze the effect of having a Roma background on women's wages. By utilizing the Athens Area Study random sample (2007-08) drawn from 16 multiethnic municipalities in which Roma live, we estimate that 66.1% of the wage differential between Roma and non-Roma female workers cannot be explained by differences in observed characteristics. Prejudices against Roma women are discussed and appear to explain the wage gap found here. The occupational segregation of the Roma in low-paid jobs and employers' statistical motivations are also found to influence wages earned by Roma. This study concludes that there is a need for better implementations of existing laws, rules and regulations which would counter the discrimination of minority women in the labor market. In addition, a better means of assessing workers' skill may contribute to the reduction of wage discrimination, as well as, greater educational achievement would significantly boost the economic status of Roma women. In its use of a random Roma sample and multivariate analysis, this study is a methodological advancement over previous studies of Roma employment, and it could inspire new efforts to compare wages by Roma background. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SJEL Classification: J31, J71, J15, C13, C81

Roma integration in European labor markets

“…The larger part of the gap was attributable to differing returns to characteristics (for example, differing pay premiums for different university degrees), differences in social or ethnic capital, or other unobservable factors such as discrimination. The study also showed that sorting across occupations and sectors did not affect this result significantly [9]. The study based on the four Hungarian surveys between 1993 and 2007 confirms these results: Differences in characteristics can explain only about half of the wage gap between employed Roma and non-Roma populations (not accounting for differences in selection into employment) [7].…”

Food consumption and diet quality choices of Roma in Romania: a counterfactual analysis

“…To do this we apply a modified Blinder-Oaxaca (Blinder 1973;Oaxaca 1973) framework. The Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique has been predominantly used in labour economics literature to study gaps in wages and employment, mostly across ethnic groups and gender (e.g., Drydakis 2012;Croucher et al 2018). Recently, this method has also been applied in the field of public health literature to explore differences in obesity across racial groups, gender, and regions in North America (e.g., Sen 2014).…”

Economic pluralism in the study of wage discrimination: a note

“…Feminist economists fight for the abolition of male dominance against women, and women's right to freedom of opportunity, conditions and choice, which will affect their education, career and wages. A comparable analysis holds for racial and ethnic minorities (Drydakis, 2012;2017).…”

“…Fair employment laws raise the cost of discrimination and discourage employers from practising discrimination. In reality, studies suggest that wage discrimination is a timeless phenomenon (Weichselbaumer and Winter-Ebmer, 2005;Drydakis, 2012;Blau and Kahn, 2017;Drydakis et al, 2017).…”

“…It is theorised that women in female-dominated jobs experience lower wages than in equally skilled male-dominated jobs. Feminist economists (Bergmann, 1986) suggest that in societies where males dominate females, by restricting their rights, opportunities and conditions in terms of family, education, employment and society, it is not surprising that women face discriminatory wages (Weichselbaumer and Winter-Ebmer, 2005;Drydakis, 2012;2017). Feminist economists fight for the abolition of male dominance against women, and women's right to freedom of opportunity, conditions and choice, which will affect their education, career and wages.…”