Gender Wage Gap at Career Entry. A Quantitative Analysis for Switzerland
Abstract
Economic theories focus on gender differences in human capital investment, built up with occupational experience, to explain the gender wage gap. Given that young women now match or surpass men’s educational achievements, gender differences in early career wages should not occur. Using Swiss longitudinal TREE Data, the empirical analysis of career entry wages in Switzerland show that young women have lower earnings because traditional female occupations are paid less. In addition, they often choose specific work contents that go together with lower compensation. Even equally qualified women with identical occupational training working in gender-mixed occupations start with lower wages than men. The unexplained component of the wage difference is about 7% when entering the labor market.
Keywords
- wage gap
- wage discrimination
- education
- career entry
- gender
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Publication information
Authors:
Kathrin Bertschy, Philipp Walker, Annick Baeriswyl, Michael Marti
Editors:
Brigitte Liebig, René Levy, Birgit Sauer, Alfonso Sousa-Poza
Publisher:
Swiss Sociological Association and Seismo Press, Swiss Journal of Sociology, Vol. 40, Issue 2, July 2014, «Gender Equality Policies in Switzerland», pp. 279-306
Languages:
German
Media Type:
City:
Zurich
Year:
2014
Themes:
Disciplines:
Research labels:
Work – carrer – professions
Education – vocational training
Inequalities
Economics – finance
Genres:
Article