The author of this study, using a bivariate probit selectivity model with data from the 1984 Panel Survey of Income Dynamics, finds that women in female-dominated jobs earned 6–15 percent less than women with the same characteristics in other occupations. These results support the crowding hypothesis, according to which women are crowded into “female jobs” because of employer discrimination, resulting in lower wages for those jobs. Previous studies, using ordinary least squares analysis, have found a higher earnings differential; but most of those studies, unlike the present one, failed to control either for individuals' decision whether or not to work or for their choice of occupation.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BellerAndrea H.1984. “Occupational Segregation and the Earnings Gap.” In Comparable Worth: Issue for the 80's. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, pp. 23–33.
2.
BergmannBarbara R.1974. “Occupational Segregation, Wages and Profits when Employers Discriminate by Race and Sex.”Eastern Economic Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 103–10.
3.
BlauFrancine D.1984. “Occupational Segregation and Labor Market Discrimination.” In ReskinBarbara F., ed., Sex Segregation in the Workplace. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, pp. 117–43.
4.
BlauFrancine D., and BellerAndrea H.. 1988. “Trends in Earnings Differentials by Gender, 1971–1981.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 513–29.
5.
BoskinMichael J.1974. “A Conditional Logit Model of Occupational Choice.”Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 82, No. 2, pp. 389–98.
6.
CainGlen G.1986. “The Economic Analysis of Labor Market Discrimination: A Survey.” In AshenfelterOrley and LayardRichard, eds., Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol. 1. Amsterdam: North-Holland, pp. 693–785.
7.
DuncanGregory M., and LeighDuane E.. 1980. “Wage Determination in the Union and Nonunion Sectors: A Sample Selectivity Approach.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 24–35.
8.
EnglandPaulaChassieMarilyn, and McCormackLinda. 1982. “Skill Demands and Earnings in Female and Male Occupations.”Sociology and Social Research, Vol. 66, No. 2, pp. 147–68.
9.
FerberMarianne A., and LowryHelen M.. 1976. “The Sex Differential in Earnings: A Reappraisal.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 377–87.
10.
FilerRandall K.1986. “The Role of Personality and Tastes in Determining Occupational Structure.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 412–24.
11.
FilerRandall K.1989. “Occupational Segregation, Compensating Differentials and Comparable Worth.” In MichaelRobert and HartmannHeidi, eds., Pay Equity: Empirical Inquiries. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
12.
FisheRaymond P. H.TrostR. P., and LuriePhilip M.. 1981. “Labor Force Earnings and College Choice of Young Women: An Examination of Selectivity Bias and Comparative Advantage.”Economics of Education Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 169–91.
13.
GronauReuben. 1974. “Wage Comparisons—A Selectivity Bias.”Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 82, No. 6, pp. 1119–43.
14.
HeckmanJames. 1974. “Shadow Prices, Market Wages, and Labor Supply.”Econometrica, Vol. 42, No. 4, pp. 679–94.
15.
JohnsonGeorge, and SolonGary. 1986. “Estimates of the Direct Effects of Comparable Worth Policy.”American Economic Review, Vol. 76, No. 5, pp. 1117–25.
16.
KillingsworthMark R.1987. “Heterogeneous Preferences, Compensating Wage Differentials, and Comparable Worth.”Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 102, No. 4, pp. 727–42.
17.
MillerAnn R.TreimanDonald J.CainPamela S., and RoosPatricia A., eds. 1980. Work, Jobs, and Occupations: A Critical Review of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
18.
OaxacaRonald. 1973. “Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets.”International Economic Review, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 693–709.
19.
O'NeillJune. 1983. “The Determinants and Wage Effects of Occupational Segregation.”Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute.
20.
PolachekSolomon William. 1981. “Occupational Self-Selection: A Human Capital Approach to Sex Differences in Occupational Structure.”Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 63, No. 1, pp. 60–69.
21.
PolachekSolomon William. 1987. “Occupational Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap.”Population Research and Policy Review, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 47–67.
22.
SchmidtPeter, and StraussRobert P.. 1975. “The Prediction of Occupation Using Multiple Logit Models.”International Economic Review, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 471–86.
23.
SnyderDavid, and HudisPaula M.. 1979. “The Sex Differential in Earnings: A Further Reappraisal.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 378–84.
24.
SorensenElaine. 1989a. “The Wage Effects of Occupational Sex Composition: A Review and New Findings.” In HillAnne M. and KillingsworthMark R., eds., Colloquium on Comparable Worth. New York: Industrial Labor Relations Press, pp. 57–79.
25.
SorensenElaine. 1989b. “Measuring the Effect of Occupational Sex and Race Composition on Earnings.” In MichaelRobert and HartmannHeidi, eds., Pay Equity: Empirical Inquiries. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
26.
TunaliInsan. 1986. “A General Structure for Models of Double-Selection and an Application to a Joint Migration/Earnings Process with Re-Migration.” In EhrenbergRonald G., ed., Research in Labor Economics, Vol. 8 (Part B). Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, pp. 235–84. U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1983. “Detailed Occupation and Years of School Completed by Age for the Civilian Labor Force by Sex, Race, and Spanish Origin: 1980.” PC80-S1–8. Washington, D.C.: GPO.
27.
TunaliInsan. 1986. “1970–1980 Census Comparability: Chart B.” Unpublished.
28.
TunaliInsan. 1987. “Male-Female Differences in Work Experience, Occupation, and Earnings: 1984.” Current Population Reports, Series P-70, No. 10. Washington, D.C.: GPO.
