Gender composition and wages: Why is Canada different from the United States?
by
Michael Baker and Nicole Fortin
Business and Labour Market Analysis Division
Analytical
Studies Branch research paper series, No. 140
There has long been a belief
that occupations that tend to be dominated by women pay lower wages. This paper
asks whether there is any evidence in Canada to support this notion.
This
study provides a comprehensive picture, circa the late 1980s, of the occupational
gender segregation in Canada and its consequences for wages. It also draws explicit
comparisons of our findings to evidence for the United States. The results show
that the link between female wages and gender composition is much stronger in
the United States than in Canada, where it is generally small and not statistically
significant. The relatively more advantageous position of women in female jobs
in Canada is found to be associated with higher unionization rates and the industry-wage
effects of "public goods" sectors.
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the full publication.
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