The Glass Ceiling and the Paper Floor: Gender Differences Among Top Earners, 1981-2012

43 Pages Posted: 6 Oct 2014 Last revised: 6 Mar 2023

See all articles by Fatih Guvenen

Fatih Guvenen

University of Minnesota - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Greg Kaplan

Princeton University - Department of Economics

Jae Song

U.S. Social Security Administration

Date Written: October 2014

Abstract

We analyze changes in the gender structure at the top of the earnings distribution in the United States over the last 30 years using a 10% sample of individual earnings histories from the Social Security Administration. Despite making large inroads, females still constitute a small proportion of the top percentiles: the glass ceiling, albeit a thinner one, remains. We measure the contribution of changes in labor force participation, changes in the persistence of top earnings, and changes in industry and age composition to the change in the gender composition of top earners. A large proportion of the increased share of females among top earners is accounted for by the mending of, what we refer to as, the paper floor - the phenomenon whereby female top earners were much more likely than male top earners to drop out of the top percentiles. We also provide new evidence at the top of the earnings distribution for both genders: the rising share of top earnings accruing to workers in the Finance and Insurance industry, the relative transitory status of top earners, the emergence of top earnings gender gaps over the life cycle, and gender differences among lifetime top earners.

Suggested Citation

Guvenen, Fatih and Kaplan, Greg and Song, Jae, The Glass Ceiling and the Paper Floor: Gender Differences Among Top Earners, 1981-2012 (October 2014). NBER Working Paper No. w20560, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2505865

Fatih Guvenen (Contact Author)

University of Minnesota - Department of Economics ( email )

Minneapolis, MN 55455
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Greg Kaplan

Princeton University - Department of Economics ( email )

Princeton, NJ 08544-1021
United States

Jae Song

U.S. Social Security Administration ( email )

Washington, DC 20254
United States
202-358-6403 (Phone)
202-358-6192 (Fax)

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