Statistical Gender Discrimination: Evidence from Young Workers across Four Decades and 56 Countries

Lucas Augusto van der Velde , FAME|GRAPE, SGH, UW
Joanna Tyrowicz, FAME|GRAPE, IZA, UW

Statistical discrimination offers a compelling narrative on gender wage gaps among younger workers. Employers could discount women's wages to adjust for probable costs linked to child- bearing. Given trends towards lower and delayed fertility one should observe a lower discount in wages and a reduction in the gender wage gap among entrants. We test this conjecture using estimates of adjusted gender wage gap among young workers from 56 countries. We find that postponing childbirth by a year reduces the adjusted gap by two percentage points (15%). We further benchmark the implied gender inequality with the help of time-use data.

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 Presented in Session P1. Postercafe