"Analyzing the Gender Wage Gap in France: Explained and Unexplained Factors"
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Wage gap between men and women in France, gender pay gap, human capital, employment structure, wage discrimination, salary inequalities, individual characteristic differences, discriminatory phenomena, return on education, marriage premium, salary gap decomposition, unexplained gap, explained gap, productive characteristics, weekly working hours, job category, employment category, professional experience, diploma returns, gender wage gap analysis, France labor market, economic inequality, sex-based wage discrimination, labor economics, human capital theory, Becker human capital theory, salary differences, men women salary comparison, France economy, economic forecast, labor market discrimination, wage gap explanation, salary gap components, individual characteristics, job structure differences, France wage gap study, Meng and Meurs wage gap study, Economy & Forecast journal, La Documentation française.
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Abstract
Unlock the complexities of the gender wage gap in France with this in-depth research study by Xin Meng and Dominique Meurs (2001). Discover how differences in human capital, employment structure, and remuneration of individual characteristics contribute to the persistent pay disparity between men and women. This comprehensive analysis breaks down the wage gap into explained and unexplained components, shedding light on the roles of discriminatory phenomena and individual characteristic differences. Explore the findings on the impact of education levels, family situations, and job categories on salary inequalities, and gain valuable insights into the challenges of achieving pay equity in France.
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[...] In conclusion, the article under study, based on data on the private sector and from an Insee study of 1992, presents a decomposition of the average wage gap between women and men. The two authors have made it possible to demonstrate that the unjustified part of this gap is significant, particularly from an international comparison point of view. The most important part of the average wage gap between the two sexes is due to differences in average salaries for the same job category and very little to differences in individual characteristics. [...]
[...] Thus, in the 1992 CMOSS study, there was a significantly higher proportion of men than women who had acquired a technical diploma. Similarly, the study highlights shorter experience and tenure durations among women than among men. Part-time jobs are also predominantly female, as 97% of men have full-time jobs, while only 88% of working women have full-time jobs. The analysis of the determinants of wages and employment by sex, based on the wage equations described earlier and with the data from the CMOSS survey of 1992, highlights several significant differences in the treatment of women and men. [...]
[...] In total, the sample consists of 137,639 individuals who work full-time or part-time in private sector establishments. Of this total are men and 54,796 are women. One of the major advantages of the database used lies in the richness of the information available in this CMOSS survey, both from the point of view of the individual characteristics of the individuals concerned (personal situation, human capital endowment) and from the point of view of the characteristics of the job concerned or the employing establishment. [...]
[...] In the end, the decompositions are written as follows: - The first term corresponds to the part of the average salary gap due to individual characteristics differences in the considered jobs, that is, the explained salary gap. - The next two terms represent the difference in returns of individual characteristics between men and women with a male advantage on the one hand and a female disadvantage on the other hand. - The fourth term corresponds to the part of the salary gap due to the difference in the structure of jobs between men and women resulting from individual characteristics differences. [...]
[...] Finally, more than 50% of the average wage gap between women and men is therefore linked to an 'unjustified' part, mainly due to the differences observed in the intra-category component. In fact, the main explanation for the wage gap is the difference in salaries within job categories, since this intra-category gap explains between 78 and 90% of the average wage gap between the two sexes. Within this intra-category gap, only a quarter results from differences in individual characteristics, while the remaining three-quarters are the combination of women's disadvantage and men's advantage." The authors attach importance to the international comparison of their results. [...]
