The Glass Ceiling in Sweden (very preliminary)

Jim Albrecht (Georgetown) Mary Ann Bronson (Georgetown)Peter Thoursie (Stockholm) Susan Vroman (Georgetown)

ESPE —Berlin June 2016

The Glass Ceiling in Sweden

I Sweden has a very low gender wage gap, a generous parentalleave system, and a high female labor force participation rate.

I At the same time, despite the small gender gap at the median,there is a very large gender gap at the top of the distribution.

I References: Albrecht, Björklund and Vroman (JOLE 2003)and Albrecht, Thoursie and Vroman (RLE 2015) for anupdate.

Fig  1.  Gender  gaps  across  the  distribution  for  men  and  women  aged  25-­‐60;                          1990,  1998,  and  2008  

 

 

 

 

   

0.1

.2.3

.4.5

1 25 50 75 100

1990 weighted 1998 weighted2008 weighted

Data

I The continued existence of a strong glass ceiling effect inSweden motivates our look at labor market outcomes for menand women in high-skill professions.

I We use register data for our analysis, focusing on individuals inhigh-skill occupations who were born between 1965 and 1970.

I By “in high-skill occupations,”we mean individuals with 3+years of university education with occupation defined bychosen field of study.

Heterogeneity Across Professions

I When looking at life-cycle wage profiles among highly skilledwomen up to age 40, we see that the overall glass ceilingeffect hides considerable heterogeneity across professions.

I In some high-skill professions, there is virtually no gender gap.In other professions, especially law, computing and business,the gender gap is as high as 25% by age 40.

I Similarly, in some high-skill professions, there is virtually nopenalty associated with childbirth. In professions like law,computing and business, however, that penalty is quite high.

-0.3

-0.25

-0.2

-0.15

-0.1

-0.05

0-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Gender Wage Gap, Yrs After First Birth

TeachingSocial SciencesBusinessLawScienceSocial WorkEngineeringMedicineNursing

Business and Engineering

I We focus on two high-skill professions —business, whichexhibits a large gender gap and a high childbirth penalty, andengineering, where the gender gap and penalty associatedwith childbirth are much smaller.

I What accounts for the high gender gap in business, especiallyafter the first birth? Why are the effects smaller for engineers?

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Share working in Public Sector, Men and Women

Business, MenBusiness, WomenEngineering, MenEngineering, Women

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Share working in Public Sector, Men and Women

Business, MenBusiness, WomenEngineering, MenEngineering, Women

9.39.59.79.9

10.110.310.510.710.911.1

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Wages by Age, Men and Women (Private Sector Only)

Business, MenBusiness, WomenEngineering, MenEngineering, Women

Some Potential Explanations

I We focus on the gender gap in private-sector employment.

I Do men climb the job ladder faster (via firm-to-firm switches)than women do?

I Do men and women sort into different firms?

I Do the firms where women work differ from those where menwork?

I Do men climb the job ladder faster (via firm-to-firm switches)than women do?

No: Men and women transition between firms at similar rates.

0

0.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.8

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Share Switching Firms, Men and Women (Private Sector Only)

Business, MenBusiness, WomenEngineering, MenEngineering, Women

I Do men and women sort into different firms?

I To a small extent, but this is the case in both business andengineering.

I In general, women tend to work in larger firms.

0

0.050.1

0.150.2

0.250.3

0.350.4

0.450.5

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Share of workers at firm female (Private Sector Only)

Business, MenBusiness, WomenEngineering, MenEngineering, Women

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Firm Size (Private Sector Only)

Business, MenBusiness, WomenEngineering, MenEngineering, Women

I Do women work in lower-paying firms than men do?

I If by “lower-paying”we mean wage, the answer is no. If wemean earnings, the answer is yes.

I That is, women are less likely to work in firms where menwork long hours (alternatively, where bonuses, etc. are animportant part of compensation.

9.89.910

10.110.210.310.410.510.610.7

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Average Log Wage of Male Workers at Firm (Private Sector Only) -- Manl

Business, MenBusiness, WomenEngineering, MenEngineering, Women

7.47.57.67.77.87.9

88.18.28.3

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Average Log Earnings of Male Workers at Firm (Private Sector Only)

Business, MenBusiness, WomenEngineering, MenEngineering, Women

0

0.20.40.60.8

11.2

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Standard Deviation, Male Earnings (Private Sector Only)

Business, MenBusiness, WomenEngineering, MenEngineering, Women

I Do women work in more family-friendly firms than men do?

I Women are somewhat more likely to work at places whereother women take more parental leave, but not where mentake more parental leave

Preliminary Conclusions

I Why is there a gender gap in business?

I At any point in time, the answer could be either

1. Men work for “better” (higher-paying) employers than womendo. We find some support for this.

2. Men and women work for similar employers, but men arenonetheless better paid. (Why?) We need to explore thisfurther.

I Perhaps men do a better job of climbing the job ladder viaon-the-job-search. At first glance, this doesn’t seem to be thecase, but we also need to examine this further.