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Pay Differentials and Gender-Based Promotion Discrimination in a Dual Labour Market

Svensson, Lars LU (2010) In Lund Papers in Economic History
Abstract
Abstract

Historical studies indicate that determinants of the gender wage gap have varied through history. This paper suggests that employment discrimination dominated over wage discrimination in clerical work in Sweden in the mid-1930s. Women were largely excluded from career paths in the offices. This is explained within an analytical framework, in which segmented labour market theory, notably concepts related to internal labour markets, is com¬bined with a simple model of statistical discrimination. The analysis sug¬gests that rational employers allocated men and women to different seg¬ments of this particular labour market on the basis if differences in pre¬dicted tenure. Men were typically selected to career paths where firms... (More)
Abstract

Historical studies indicate that determinants of the gender wage gap have varied through history. This paper suggests that employment discrimination dominated over wage discrimination in clerical work in Sweden in the mid-1930s. Women were largely excluded from career paths in the offices. This is explained within an analytical framework, in which segmented labour market theory, notably concepts related to internal labour markets, is com¬bined with a simple model of statistical discrimination. The analysis sug¬gests that rational employers allocated men and women to different seg¬ments of this particular labour market on the basis if differences in pre¬dicted tenure. Men were typically selected to career paths where firms in¬vested in their human capital, because men’s predicted long spells of em¬ployment in the firm increased the probability of gathering the returns to these investments. Shorter predicted tenures made it rational to allocate women to dead-end jobs with early productivity crests, where high turno¬ver rates were advantageous for the firm. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Labour market, Discrimination, Gender
in
Lund Papers in Economic History
issue
117
pages
22 pages
publisher
Department of Economic History, Lund University
ISSN
1101-346X
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d62e7b8a-f695-45ad-a65b-a2536fcc29fe (old id 1770287)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 15:01:53
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:32:34
@misc{d62e7b8a-f695-45ad-a65b-a2536fcc29fe,
  abstract     = {{Abstract<br/><br>
Historical studies indicate that determinants of the gender wage gap have varied through history. This paper suggests that employment discrimination dominated over wage discrimination in clerical work in Sweden in the mid-1930s. Women were largely excluded from career paths in the offices. This is explained within an analytical framework, in which segmented labour market theory, notably concepts related to internal labour markets, is com¬bined with a simple model of statistical discrimination. The analysis sug¬gests that rational employers allocated men and women to different seg¬ments of this particular labour market on the basis if differences in pre¬dicted tenure. Men were typically selected to career paths where firms in¬vested in their human capital, because men’s predicted long spells of em¬ployment in the firm increased the probability of gathering the returns to these investments. Shorter predicted tenures made it rational to allocate women to dead-end jobs with early productivity crests, where high turno¬ver rates were advantageous for the firm.}},
  author       = {{Svensson, Lars}},
  issn         = {{1101-346X}},
  keywords     = {{Labour market; Discrimination; Gender}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{117}},
  publisher    = {{Department of Economic History, Lund University}},
  series       = {{Lund Papers in Economic History}},
  title        = {{Pay Differentials and Gender-Based Promotion Discrimination in a Dual Labour Market}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/4306249/4426140.pdf}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}