Umeå Economic Studies,
Umeå University, Department of Economics

Abstract: The Swedish gender wage gap decreased substantially from the 1960s until the beginning of the 1980s. At the same time women had been narrowing men in employment experience and education. While women continued to catch up on men the average wage gap remained almost the same as in the 1980s. The catch-up hypothesis was obviously not the sole answer to the wage-gap. The purpose here was to discuss other factors of relevance for the evolution of the average pay gap. Data for the period 1972-2012 is used in the analysis: The results are mixed and firm conclusions are scarce. Some indications though, the older the women are at first birth the smaller the pay gap and the same for female union membership while unemployment, economic growth, fertility and time made the gap larger. It seems as “time”, often reliable on issues such as changes in attitudes and prejudices, cannot settle this. One finding, common in other studies as well, is the influence “children” may have on the wage gap. If postponement of motherhood and/or fewer children is necessary to reduce the gender wage gap the question whether this is desirable or not must be addressed more seriously. If the answer is “no” it may be high time for men to catch up on women - through sharing the full responsibility for children and household duties.

Keywords: Gender wage-gap; education; employment; fertility; parental leave

JEL-codes: J30; J31; J38; J68

35 pages, June 11, 2014

Full text files

DownloadAsset.action...Id=3&assetKey=ues889  

Download statistics

• Umeå University, Department of Economics
• Ordering Working Papers
• Home page for this series

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to David Skog ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

RePEc:hhs:umnees:0889This page generated on 2024-09-13 22:17:26.