Gender pay gap during life cycle in the STEM labor market
Date
2023-04-05
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Abstract
This paper documents the dynamics of the gender gap over time and over the life cycle in STEM occupations in Brazil. Using a matched employer-employee data on the Brazilian formal labor market and a novel classification of occupations, we compare the STEM and non-STEM gender gaps in the formal labor market. We establish four results. First, we document that, while the ratio of women to men among workers is stable in the formal labor market as a whole, it increases in STEM. This is consistent with an increase in the intensive margin of labor supply of women in STEM occupations. Second, we find that the likelihood of STEM workers continuing employed in the formal sector in the following years is higher than the likelihood of the typical formal worker. Nevertheless, the likelihood of holding a STEM job is smaller, in particular for women. Third, we estimate that that occupational controls and firms’ characteristics explain each around 35% of the gender pay gap in STEM occupations, more than in the rest of the formal labor market. Fourth, we show that the gender pay gap in STEM is decreasing over generations, a pattern similar to the one found in the rest of the formal labor market.
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Working Paper
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STEM, STEM LABOUR MARKET, GENDER DISCRIMINATION, WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT, BRAZIL, SOUTH AMERICA