Group versus individual discrimination among young workers: a distributional approach

We evaluate the gender wage gap and the unexplained gender wage differential for workers 15-29 year old during the period 1990-1997, using a particularly rich set of data from the Italian Social Security System covering all individuals in the labour markets of two Italian provinces. We estimate separate earnings functions for men and women correcting for endogeneity of education and we evaluate gender discrimination by studying the entire distribution of the unexplained wage gap as suggested by Jenkins (1994). We evaluate discrimination against females by means of bivariate density functions. This innovation makes it possible to condition the density distribution on the marginal distribution of any characteristic and to evaluate more precisely the existence of group and individual discrimination. Our analysis suggests that discrimination is not evenly distributed among women, in relation to their characteristics; in particular, there is evidence of lower discrimination against highly educated females. Moreover in 1997, compared to 1990, discrimination increased in a appreciable way, affecting human capital rich females more significantly. While our work is based in a very local context the richness of the data and the methodological innovation give the results a wider application.wage differentials, wage discrimination, gender

Gender differences in productivity rewards in Italy: the role of human capital

In this paper we evaluate the gender wage gap component due to differences in characteristics’ rewards in Italy. The main focus is on the relationship between human capital characteristics and gender differences in rewards. We propose a methodology that combines the quantile regression analysis with non-parametric procedures for the estimation of the probability density functions of reward differentials in order to evaluate the evolution of the gap due to human capital characteristics. The analysis is carried out on Italian data taken from the latest available cross-section of the European Community Household Panel (2001). Our study suggests that education can be a good productivity signal and helps reduce the range of the gap; furthermore, highly-educated women experience lesser gender-based pay differences as the length of the employment relationship increases.Gender wage gap, human capital, distributional analysis

The Distribution of the Gender Wage Gap in Italy: Does Education Matter?

In this paper we evaluate the wage gap due to differences in rewards to characteristics by studying the entire distribution of the individual unexplained wage gap. We use quantile regressions and an adaptation of the procedure suggested by Machado and Mata (2005) to derive the marginal distributions of predicted and counterfactual female wages. Then, we estimate probability distributions of unexplained wage gap conditional to observed characteristics. The methodology allows to evaluate the probability of women with different characteristics to experience any level of discrimination. The main focus of the paper is on the relationship between human capital characteristics and outcomes in differences in pay. In particular, we focus our attention on different educational levels. Under the hypothesis that women invest in education to signal their productivity, we should detect a lower wage gap -due to differences in rewards to characteristics- among high educated females. Our analysis suggests that education can be a good signal but not for all females. We also show that education interacts differently with other human capital characteristics, such as general experience acquired in the labour market. The analysis is carried out on Italian data drawn from the last available cross-section of the European Community Household Panel (2001)Gender Wage Gap, Distributive Analysis, Human Capital

GROUP VERSUS INDIVIDUAL DISCRIMINATION AMONG YOUNG WORKERS: A DISTRIBUTIONAL APPROACH

Working Paper Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche, Universit\uc3\ua0 Ca' Foscari di Venezia, 2005.02

Group versus individual discrimination among young workers: A distributional approach

In this paper we evaluate gender discrimination by studying the entire distribution of the individual unexplained wage gap. In particular, this innovation makes it possible to estimate the distribution of the unexplained wage gap conditional on the distribution of any characteristic and to evaluate more precisely the existence of group and individual discrimination. Our analysis suggests that discrimination is not evenly distributed among women, both in relation to their estimated wage and their human capital characteristics. While our work is based on a very local context, the richness of the data and the methodological innovation give the results a wider application.Gender wage gap Discrimination Distributional analysis Human capital