The Persistence of the Gender Earnings Gap: Cohort Trends and the Role of Education in Twelve Countries

Abstract

Studying twelve countries over 30 years, we examine whether women’s educational expansion has translated into a narrowing of the gender gap in earnings when including persons with zero earnings. As educational attainment is cohort-dependent, an Age-Period-Cohort analysis is most appropriate in our view. Using the micro data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Database, we show that while, in terms of attainment of tertiary education, women have caught up and often even outperform men, substantial gender differences in our earnings measure persist in all countries. Using the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method in an innovative age-period-cohort approach, we demonstrate that the role of education in explaining gender earnings differences has been limited and even decreased over cohorts. We also conclude that, when including persons not receiving earnings, earnings differences at levels far from gender equality will likely persist in the future, even if the “rise of women” in terms of education continues – as the share of women in higher education increases and the returns to education in particular for women declines. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)

The role of overeducation and horizontal mismatch for gender inequalities in labor income of higher education graduates in Europe

“…The previous literature unequivocally points toward the existence of gender gaps in labor income in Western societies (e.g. Bar-Haim et al, 2018), even among the tertiary educated (Triventi, 2013). Previous research has also shown associations between gender and overeducation and horizontal mismatch-path B-(e.g.…”

“…Moreover, women's increased educational attainment has been a key driver of educational expansion (Sauer et al, 2022). Thus, the advancement of women with respect to educational attainment at the tertiary level should attenuate or even compensate their income disadvantages (Bar-Haim et al, 2018;Blau and Kahn, 2017). However, research demonstrated that gender gaps in income exist among tertiary graduates (e.g.…”

“…Gender inequality in labor income is a core topic in social stratification research because it calls into question the meritocratic principles of modern societies (Grusky, 2014). Women's disadvantage has persisted over the last 30 years in most Western countries (Bar-Haim et al, 2018). While occupational segregation plays an increasingly important role in explaining the gender gap in labor income, the role of gender disparities in educational attainment has declined across cohorts due to the educational expansion.…”

Age dynamics of the gender wage gap: An analysis with matched employer-employee microdata for Spain

“… 2. Kruse (2017) replicates the Campbell and Pearlman (2013) study, making a distinction between states. Bar-Haim et al (2018) also apply an age-period-cohort analysis to demonstrate that increased female educational attainment across generations has done little to narrow the gender wage gap over time in a number of countries.…”