EXPLAINING WOMEN'S SUCCESS: TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND THE SKILL CONTENT OF WOMEN'S WORK

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Black, Sandra E.; Spitz-Oener, Alexandra
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; National Bureau of Economic Research; Humboldt University of Berlin
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest.2009.11761
• 发表日期: 2010-02
• 页码: 187-194
• 关键词: relative wages; technical change; INEQUALITY; polarization; demand; TRENDS

摘要

In this study, we explore a new approach for analyzing changes in the gender pay gap that uses direct measures of job tasks and gives a comprehensive characterization of how work for men and women has changed in recent decades. Using data from West Germany, we find that women have witnessed relative increases in nonroutine analytic and interactive tasks. The most notable difference between the genders is, however, the pronounced relative decline in routine task inputs among women, driven, at least in part, by technological change. These changes explain a substantial fraction of the closing of the gender wage gap.