Recent Trends in Occupational Segregation by Gender: A Look Across the Atlantic

Abstract:     
In this Paper, we analyse the recent patterns of occupational segregation by gender in the EU countries vis-a-vis the US. Given the lack of long time-series data on homogeneous LFS data about occupations and educational attainments for male and female workers in EU countries, we use a single cross section corresponding to 1999 as the basis of comparison, hoping to uncover convergence trends by examining whether the EU-US differentials in gender occupational segregation decline across age cohorts. The main findings of our study are: (i) gender segregation has been declining across age cohorts in the case of female graduates and has remained steady for those with lower educational levels; in particular, the level of segregation for the former group is higher in the EU than in the US; (ii) gender segregation seems to be positively correlated with the share of part-time jobs; and (iii) there is some evidence, albeit a weak one, that the gender wage gap and occupational segregation are positively correlated, particularly when the Scandinavian countries are excluded from the sample.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 40

Keywords: Occupational segregation, gender wage gap, part-time jobs

JEL Classification: J21, J22, J24

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