Full Citation

Title: Does the United States Have a Glass Ceiling?: Evidence from Recent Trends of Gender Gap

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2016

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: This study analyzes the slow down of the convergence of gender gap since the late 1990s. Analyzing data from the Current Population Survey for 1980 to 2014, we find that gender gap fell sharply during the 1980s to mid-1990s and since then gender gap has been declining much more slowly at the top of the wage distribution compared to the rest of the part of the distribution. In the existing literature, this phenomenon is known as glass ceiling effect. The slowing down of the growth of relative wage for skilled women indicates a divergence path of the gender gap in the upper and lower halves of the wage distribution. Our two factors VES (variable elasticity of substitution) model shows that since the early 2000s a sharp increase in relative supply of women college graduates partially offset the price effect of the rapid secular growth in relative demand for skilled workers. Fluctuations in state economic factors such as unemployment rate, minimum wage, migration are not possible explanations for these recent divergent trends because relative wage growth does slow down mainly in the upper tail of the wage distribution.

Url: https://www.sole-jole.org/17469.pdf

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Ghosh, Pallab K

Publisher: The University of Oklahoma

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Gender, Other

Countries: