Occupational Gender Composition and Wages in Canada: 1987-1988

The relationship between occupational gender composition and wages is the basis of pay equity/comparable worth legislation. A number of previous studies have examined this relationship in US data, identifying some of the determinants of low wages in ``female jobs'' well as important limitations of public policy in this area. There is little evidence, however, from other jurisdictions. This omission is particularly disturbing in the case of Canada, which now has some of the most extensive pay equity legislation in the world. In this paper we provide a comprehensive picture, circa the late 1980's, of the occupational gender segregation in Canada and its consequences for wages. The sample period precedes many provincial pay equity initiatives and thus the results should provide a baseline for the evaluation of this legislation. We find that the estimated wage penalties in female jobs in Canada are generally much smaller than the estimates for the United States. Although there is some heterogeneity across worker groups on average, the link between female wages and gender composition is small and not statistically significant.

Occupational Gender Segregation and Women's Wages in Canada: An Historical Perspective

We document the evolution of occupational gender segregation and its implications for women's labour market outcomes over the twentieth century. The first half of the century saw a considerable decline in vertical segregation as women moved out of domestic and manufacturing work into clerical work. This created a substantial amount of horizontal segregation that persists to this day. To study the effects of occupational segregation on the gender gap, we introduce a decomposition technique that divides the gap into between-occupation and within-occupation components. Since the 1990s the component attributable to within-occupation wage differentials has become predominant. Nous traçons un portrait de l'évolution de la ségrégation professionnelle selon le sexe au 20ième siècle, et de ses conséquences sur la condition féminine dans le marché du travail. Dans la première partie du 20ième siècle, la ségrégation professionnelle hiérarchique ou verticale a considérablement déclinée alors que les travailleuses quittaient les emplois de domestique et du secteur manufacturier en faveur des emplois de bureau. Ceci créa néanmoins une importante ségrégation professionnelle horizontale qui persiste jusqu'à aujourd'hui. Pour étudier les effets de la ségrégation professionnelle sur l'écart salarial selon le sexe, nous présentons une technique de décomposition qui divise l'écart salarial en deux composantes: l'une due aux différences intra-occupations et l'autre due aux différences inter-occupations. Depuis le début des années 90, la composante intra-occupation est prédominante.Occupational segregation, gender wage gap, pay equity, economic history, Ségrégation professionnelle, équité salariale, écart salarial selon le sexe, histoire économique

The Impact of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Crop Agriculture: A Spatial- and Production-Level Analysis

With the Waxman-Markey Bill passing the House and the administration’s push to reduce carbon emissions, the likelihood of the implementation of some form of a carbon emissions policy is increasing. This study estimates the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the six largest row crops produced in Arkansas using 57 different production practices predominantly used and documented by the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. From these GHG emission estimates, a baseline state “carbon footprint†was estimated and a hypothetical GHG emissions reduction of 5, 10, and 20 percent was levied on Arkansas agriculture using a cap-and-trade method. Using current production technology and traditional land use choices, results show that the trading of carbon-emitting permits to reduce statewide GHG emissions by 5 percent from the baseline would enhance GHG emissions efficiency measured as net crop farm income generated per unit of carbon emissions created. The 5 percent reduction in GHG emissions does cause marginal reductions in acres farmed and has marginal income ramifications. Beyond the 5 percent reduction target, gains in GHG emissions efficiency decline but remain positive in most counties through the 10 percent GHG reduction target. However, with a 10 percent GHG reduction, acreage and income reductions more than double compared to the 5 percent level. When GHG emissions are reduced by 20 percent from the baseline, the result is a major cropping pattern shift coupled with significant reductions in traditional row crop acreage, income, and GHG emissions efficiency.greenhouse gas emissions, carbon equivalents, sustainability, cap and trade, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

How A Cap-and-Trade Policy of Green House Gases Could Alter the Face of Agriculture in the South: A Spatial and Production Level Analysis.

With the Waxman-Markey Bill passing the House and the Obama administration’s push to reduce carbon emissions, the likelihood of the implementation of some form of a carbon policy is increasing. This study estimates the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the six largest crops produced in Arkansas using 63 different production practices as documented by University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. From these GHG estimates a baseline state “carbon footprint” was estimated and a hypothetical cap-and-trade carbon reduction of 5, 10, and 20% was levied on Arkansas agriculture. Results show that while a modest reduction in GHG emissions (5%) would only affect crop allocations amongst certain crops while marginally reducing state net returns, a 20% reduction would cause major cropping pattern shifts with some traditional row crops nearly disappearing.Cap-and-Trade, carbon, sustainability, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q28, Q52, Q54, Q56,

Consumer Attitudes toward Freshness Indicators on Perishable Food Products

Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Occupational Gender Segregation and Women's Wages in Canada: An Historical Perspective

Nous traçons un portrait de l'évolution de la ségrégation professionnelle selon le sexe au 20ième siècle, et de ses conséquences sur la condition féminine dans le marché du travail. Dans la première partie du 20ième siècle, la ségrégation professionnelle hiérarchique ou verticale a considérablement déclinée alors que les travailleuses quittaient les emplois de domestique et du secteur manufacturier en faveur des emplois de bureau. Ceci créa néanmoins une importante ségrégation professionnelle horizontale qui persiste jusqu'à aujourd'hui. Pour étudier les effets de la ségrégation professionnelle sur l'écart salarial selon le sexe, nous présentons une technique de décomposition qui divise l'écart salarial en deux composantes: l'une due aux différences intra-occupations et l'autre due aux différences inter-occupations. Depuis le début des années 90, la composante intra-occupation est prédominante.We document the evolution of occupational gender segregation and its implications for women's labour market outcomes over the twentieth century. The first half of the century saw a considerable decline in vertical segregation as women moved out of domestic and manufacturing work into clerical work. This created a substantial amount of horizontal segregation that persists to this day. To study the effects of occupational segregation on the gender gap, we introduce a decomposition technique that divides the gap into between-occupation and within-occupation components. Since the 1990s the component attributable to within-occupation wage differentials has become predominant

ArcelorMittal Boot Seal Project

ArcelorMittalhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96202/1/me450f12project9_report.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96202/2/me450f12project9_photo.jp

Does Comparable Worth Work in a Decentralized Labor Market?

We investigate the effect of pro-active comparable worth legislation---covering both the public and private sectors---on wages, the gender wage gap and the gender composition of employment. The focus is the pay equity initiative of the Canadian province of Ontario in the early 1990s. We document substantial lapses in compliance and problems with the implementation of the law among smaller firms where the majority of men and women work. This evidence provides important lessons of the obstacles to extending pay equity to the private sector of a decentralized labor market. When we focus on those sectors of the labor market where compliance was relatively strict, our results suggest that any positive effects on the wages of women in female jobs were very modest. Our most consistently estimated effects of the law on wages are negative: slower wage growth for women in male jobs and for men in female jobs.

Women's Wages in Women's Work: A US/Canada Comparison of the Roles of Unions and Public Goods Sector Jobs

In this paper, we investigate the mechanism by which the femaleness of occupations has a negative effect on women's wages. We relate US/Canada differences in labor market institutions, the returns to skills and other dimensions of the wage structure, such as occupational rents, to corresponding differences in the rewards to female jobs. Our analysis, which uses US data from the CPS-ORG for 1988 and Canadian data from the 1988 LMAS, uncovers intriguing US/Canada differences in the effect of occupational gender composition on women's wages. The estimated effect for Canadian women is generally small and not statistically significant, while estimates for American women are relatively large and comparable to the evidence in previous studies. Relating these differences to cross-country variation in other wage determinants reveals that higher rates of unionization, and the higher occupation wage effects for certain public good sector jobs such as educational services, work to the advantage of Canadian women. We also find that the relatively higher pay of integrated jobs in the United States helps account for the larger negative effect of gender composition on women's wages in this country. Dans cet article, nous étudions le mécanisme par lequel le taux de féminité des occupations peut avoir un effect négatif sur les salaires des femmes. Nous utilisons une comparaison internationale États-Unis/Canada pour relier les différences institutionnelles du marché du travail, les différences dans les rendements des qualifications et dans d'autres dimensions de la structure salariale, comme les rentes occupationnelles, à des différences dans la rémunération des emplois à prédominance féminine. Notre analyse, qui utilise les données américaines provenant des CPS-ORG pour 1988 et les données canadiennes provenant de l'enquête sur l'activité aussi pour 1988, démontre l'existence de différences intéressantes entre les États-Unis et le Canada quant à l'effet du taux de féminité des occupations sur les salaires des femmes. L'effet estimé pour les canadiennes, dans leur ensemble, est généralement petit et n'est pas statistiquement significatif, alors que l'effet estimé pour les américaines est relativement important et comparable aux résultats des études antérieures. Lorsque nous relions ces différences internationales aux autres déterminants de la structure salariale, nous trouvons que les taux de syndication relativement élevés, et les effets fixes relativement élevés des occupations procurant des biens publics sont à l'avantage des canadiennes. Nous trouvons aussi que les salaires relativement plus élevés des occupations intégrées aux États-Unis contribuent à l'effet négatif du taux de féminité des occupations sur les salaires des femmes dans ce pays.Pay equity, comparable worth, public sector jobs, gender composition, cross-country comparison, Équité salariale, salaire égal pour travail de valeur comparable, taux de féminité occupationnel, emplois publics, syndicats, comparaisons internationales

Occupational Gender Composition and Wages in Canada: 1987-1988

No Abstract.