This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. ASSA Annual Meeting
  3. 2023
  4. Program
  5. IAFFE Joint Session with Association for Social Economics ASE: Gender Inequalities in Wages and Paid Care Sectors
« Back to Results

IAFFE Joint Session with Association for Social Economics ASE: Gender Inequalities in Wages and Paid Care Sectors

Paper Session

Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM (CST)

J.W. Marriott New Orleans, Rosalie/St. Claude
Hosted By: Association for Social Economics & International Association for Feminist Economics
  • Chair: Bilge Erten, Northeastern University

Labor Market Conditions for Health and Elderly Care Workers in the People’s Republic of China

Xiao-yuan Dong
,
University of Winnipeg
Veronica Joffre
,
Asian Development Bank
Yueping Song
,
Renmin University of China

Abstract

This paper examines the labor market conditions in the health and social work industry in the People’s
Republic of China (PRC). The analysis indicates that while population aging and increased chronic
disease burdens have greatly expanded the demand for health and elderly care services, the growth
in employment in the health and social work industry has lagged behind other sectors. This limits the
supply of high-quality health and elderly care services for the growing population with care needs.
To understand the causes of this shortage of health and elderly care workers, the paper explores the
labor market conditions in the sector. The analysis reveals that women constitute most of the health
care workforce in the PRC, and the elderly care workforce is predominately composed of older migrant
women with a junior high school education or lower. Data further indicate that the working conditions
of health and elderly care workers could improve. Majority of the medical staff surveyed for this study
were dissatisfied with their compensation, a third intended to leave their occupation, and a quarter
had encountered verbal or physical abuse from patients over the past 6 months. Wages for elderly
care workers were also low and most of the elderly care institutions had difficulty generating sufficient
revenue to cover operational costs. These results point to the need for a comprehensive strategy for care
provision that aims to provide decent jobs for care workers while making quality care services accessible
for all persons with care needs.

Feminist Economics and the Capability Approach: An Overview of the Gender Wage Gap in Brazil

Ana Beatriz Gonçalves Oliva
,
Federal University of ABC
Mônica Yukie Kuwahara
,
Federal University of ABC
Giovana Cavaggioni Bigliazzi
,
FEA-USP

Abstract

In Brazil, women’s wages are, on average, approximately 23% smaller than men’s (IBGE, 2019). The 2012 World Development Report reveals that women’s participation in the labor force has increased in recent years, but the report also highlights the fact that women still face wage inequality and restriction on opportunities (WORLD BANK, 2011). Furthermore, it advocates the intrinsic and instrumental importance of gender equality for development, as this equality is beyond wages and cannot be achieved through income growth alone (WORLDBANK, 2011). Santos and Moura (2021) identify some drivers of the gender wage gap in Brazilian economic literature, but the analysis of the wage gap together with other factors that also have implications for women’s well-being is still scarce. For this reason, the capability approach can contribute to the study of income inequality between men and women in Brazil. In this paper we investigate the main causes of the gender wage gap in Brazil, describing the explanations found in the capability approach and in feminist economics for the existence of such inequality, as well as identifying convergences and divergences between the two approaches. We state that the difference in opportunities between men and women and the deprivation of individual capabilities are some of the causes of the gender wage gap, and motivate this discussion using National Household Survey data from the IBGE for the last decade. An additional contribution of our paper is the identification of shared ideas between the capability approach and feminist economics, mainly in the discussion about nonmarket care and domestic work.

Same Old? Fintechs, Digital Banks, and the Gender Wage Gap in the Financial Sector in Brazil

Ana Abras
,
Federal University of ABC and PGAE -American University
Antonio Caluz
,
Insper
Camila Campos
,
Insper and European University Institute
Bruno Rocha
,
Federal University of ABC

Abstract

We study the emerging area of Financial Technology (Fintechs) companies and Digital Banks in Brazil and the role these firms play in employing female workers. We leverage information on a matched employer-employee dataset covering all formal jobs in the banking and finance industry in Brazil from 2015 to 2018 to study the gender gap in participation and wages in the sector. We find that Fintechs and Digital Banks pay on average lower wages than traditional banks, and employ a larger share of women, young workers, and persons without a college degree. The gender gap in hourly wages measured as the difference in mean log wages of women and men is higher in Fintechs and Digital Banks than in traditional financial institutions. After characterizing the workers and the wage distribution in the sector, we estimate a simple reduced-form model by regressing the log of hourly wages on a large set of workers and firms’ characteristics. The higher male-female pay differential in Fintechs and Digital Banks is robust to the inclusion of standard workers’ demographic characteristics such as age, educational attainment, and race, but also to the inclusion of worker-tenure at the firm, 2-digit occupation dummies, firm-share of workers in human resources, firm-share of women in directors and managers’ positions, firm’s size and age, and finally, conglomerate fixed-effects. Our study contributes to the literature by assessing to what extent new firms in the financial sectors can establish de facto gender-inclusive pay practices.

Minimum Wage and the U.S. Gender Wage Gap: A State-Level Analysis

Christine Storrie
,
SUNY-Oneonta
Kpoti Kitissou
,
SUNY-Oneonta

Abstract

In 2016, minimum wage increases went into effect in fourteen US states. Each subsequent year, more increases to state minimum wages have gone into effect throughout the country. Currently, thirty states have minimum wages that are above the current federal minimum wage rate of $7.25 per hour that was established in 2009. In this paper, we examine the relationship between state-level gender pay gaps and minimum wages. First, we estimate the gender pay gap on a state level by estimating the difference in mean wages for men and women for each state using the Blinder-Oaxaca counterfactual decomposition to compare the size of the gender pay gaps from 2016-2021 to the U.S. average. Even when controlling for education and industry, the pay gap between men and women still persists in most states. Much of the variation in the gender pay gap among the US states can be attributed to differences in the composition of industries and labor supply within each state. We find that nineteen of the twenty-one states that have minimum wages at or below the federal minimum wage have gender pay gaps that are larger than the national average. Our results are consistent with studies examining the relationship between minimum wage and gender pay gaps in other countries and we find that increases in minimum wages reduce the earnings gap among younger workers and those in low-skilled jobs. To our knowledge, we are the first to analyze the relationship between the gender pay gap and minimum wage rates in the United States.

Local Child Care Markets and Women in Utah

Yazgi Genc
,
University of Utah

Abstract

Child care deserts statistics of the Center for American Progress draw a broad picture of the current chaos and the distortions in the child care market in the US, and Utah stands out as the most severe child care desert in the nation despite its strong economic indicators. This paper reviews and compares the feminist and mainstream scholars’ views on the economic analysis of the child care market. Then, it analyzes the child care capacity of communities across Utah and assesses how the supply of child care responds to the demand pressure. We will argue that Utah’s unique characteristics–the great emphasis on traditional family structure and so inadequate provision of working women in the labor force–might be the driving force behind being the most severe child care desert. To do so, we use the data on child care providers from Utah’s Department of Workforce Services Office of Child Care (OCC) Licensing database and the ZIP code level demographic and economic characteristics of a community from the American Community Survey. Using econometrics, we have started analyzing how child care capacity relates to the community characteristics, mainly women’s labor market indicators. Initial results indicate the huge variation in the child care capacities across Utah ZIP codes, and the average ZIP code has the capacity to serve only 20 percent of the kids under age 6. Moreover, regardless of how many women participate in the labor
force in rural areas, female labor force participation does not affect the probability of finding a childcare slot for kids under 6 in rural places, while the effect is positive and strong in urban areas. In the light of the ZIP code level initial analysis, we will examine the local child care markets with a more enriched provider-level data set requested from OCC.

Discussant(s)
Yazgi Genc
,
University of Utah
Veronica Joffre
,
Asian Development Bank
Ana Beatriz Gonçalves Oliva
,
Federal University of ABC
Ana Abras
,
Federal University of ABC and PGAE -American University
Christine Storrie
,
SUNY-Oneonta
JEL Classifications
  • B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches
  • J7 - Labor Discrimination