Friday, October 31, 2008
[IWS] ILO Bangkok: BANGLADESH GENDER WAGE GAP [May 2008]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
ILO Asia-Pacific Working Paper Series
The gender wage gap in Bangladesh
by Steven Kapsos
Bangkok: ILO, 2008
iii, 29 p.
ISBN 9789221213376 (web pdf)
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/library/download/wp08-01.pdf
[full-text, 43 pages]
Abstract
This study utilizes the 2007 Bangladesh Occupational Wage Dataset to investigate determinants
of earnings and to estimate gender wage differentials in a large sample of non-agricultural
workers in the country. The Mincerian regression model and Blinder-Oaxaca wage
decomposition model are utilized to estimate and decompose the observed gender earnings gaps
into the portion that can be explained by differences between women and men in their
productive endowments (in factors such as education) and the portion that is unexplained, owing
to differences in returns to these productive factors and due to other unknown effects. The
paper presents the first estimates of hourly gender wage gaps by industry, level of education and
establishment size that control for other characteristics of workers in Bangladesh and the first
quantitative estimates of the effects of industrial and occupational segregation on average wage
rates for women and men in the country. It also provides a thorough decomposition of industrylevel
gender wage gaps into explained and unexplained components, which sheds light on the
potential role played by gender-based discrimination in wage setting in different industries in
Bangladesh.
The study finds that women earn an average of 21 per cent less per hour than men. Controlling
for differences in age, educational background, industry, occupation and geographic location,
yields an estimated gender wage gap of 15.9 per cent, but including the effects of industrial and
occupational segregation into the estimate yields an estimated wage gap of 23.1 per cent.
Industrial segregation increases the overall wage gap by an estimated 7 percentage points.
Gender gaps are observed in every industry, across all levels of education and in every
establishment size class, with the largest gaps observed in the hotels & restaurants and
construction industries, among workers with primary education or less, and in mid-sized
establishments. Gender-based occupational segregation increases the gender wage gap in the
construction, financial intermediation and manufacturing industries, but mitigates it in the
education, hotels & restaurants and other services industries. The results make clear that
increased education has an important role to play to lower the gender wage gap in Bangladesh:
the largest gender gap is observed among illiterate workers and the second largest gap is observed
among literate workers with less than a primary school education.
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
ILO Asia-Pacific Working Paper Series
The gender wage gap in Bangladesh
by Steven Kapsos
Bangkok: ILO, 2008
iii, 29 p.
ISBN 9789221213376 (web pdf)
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/library/download/wp08-01.pdf
[full-text, 43 pages]
Abstract
This study utilizes the 2007 Bangladesh Occupational Wage Dataset to investigate determinants
of earnings and to estimate gender wage differentials in a large sample of non-agricultural
workers in the country. The Mincerian regression model and Blinder-Oaxaca wage
decomposition model are utilized to estimate and decompose the observed gender earnings gaps
into the portion that can be explained by differences between women and men in their
productive endowments (in factors such as education) and the portion that is unexplained, owing
to differences in returns to these productive factors and due to other unknown effects. The
paper presents the first estimates of hourly gender wage gaps by industry, level of education and
establishment size that control for other characteristics of workers in Bangladesh and the first
quantitative estimates of the effects of industrial and occupational segregation on average wage
rates for women and men in the country. It also provides a thorough decomposition of industrylevel
gender wage gaps into explained and unexplained components, which sheds light on the
potential role played by gender-based discrimination in wage setting in different industries in
Bangladesh.
The study finds that women earn an average of 21 per cent less per hour than men. Controlling
for differences in age, educational background, industry, occupation and geographic location,
yields an estimated gender wage gap of 15.9 per cent, but including the effects of industrial and
occupational segregation into the estimate yields an estimated wage gap of 23.1 per cent.
Industrial segregation increases the overall wage gap by an estimated 7 percentage points.
Gender gaps are observed in every industry, across all levels of education and in every
establishment size class, with the largest gaps observed in the hotels & restaurants and
construction industries, among workers with primary education or less, and in mid-sized
establishments. Gender-based occupational segregation increases the gender wage gap in the
construction, financial intermediation and manufacturing industries, but mitigates it in the
education, hotels & restaurants and other services industries. The results make clear that
increased education has an important role to play to lower the gender wage gap in Bangladesh:
the largest gender gap is observed among illiterate workers and the second largest gap is observed
among literate workers with less than a primary school education.
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 8:49 AM
