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A research project investigating the gender wage gap (GWG) over the life course and across cohorts.

ThisÌýstudy will provide a comprehensive analysis of the GWG across individuals' lives, up to the age of 60 in the case of the 1958 cohort, and across three generations.

The detailed information contained in theÌýbirth cohorts, including genetic and childhood development data, will be exploited to provide new insights into wage formation, how the GWG evolved, and what policy instruments will be needed to create pay equality.

The project runs through to June 2024.

Background

Nearly half a century after the Equal Pay Act, women still earn less than men and convergence is slow.

The gap grows with family formation, as mothers spend time out of the labour market and face lower pay than previously on returning to employment, particularly part-time.

One view is that the GWGÌýreflects conventional norms about the division of domestic labour, while others point to discriminatory practices in the workplace.

Growing concern about the persistence of the GWG and the way it evolves over the life course and across cohorts prompted the team to start examining the reasons for the GWG.

The projectÌýis funded by the ESRCÌýgrant number ES/S012583/1.

Aims of the project

The study will address five related questions:

1. What does the GWG look like over the life-course and across birth cohorts? Does it change later in life and how does it compare across cohorts for people at the same points in their life?
2. How much of the GWG is accounted for by differences in human capital accumulation over the life-course? How different does the wage gap look over the life-course for men and women with similar human capital (qualifications and labour market experience)?Ìý
3. What role do parenthood and caring responsibilities play in the emergence of the GWGÌýin mid-life and how persistent is this penalty over the life-course?
4. How much of the gap is attributable to the sorts of jobs undertaken by men and women, particularly in relation to occupation and part-time status?
5. What role do childhood attributes and experiences play in determining the subsequent GWG and do childhood influences still matter having accounted for early adulthood experiences?

Methodology

By analysing nationally representative birth cohort data for people born in 1958, 1970 and 1989/90 this study addresses the topic from three angles:

1. We consider the evolution of the GWG over the whole life-course. This is important because factors governing both selection into employment and wage determination vary for men and women well into later life.
2. Because we track people from birth, we obtain a picture of the links between childhood circumstances, skills and experiences and subsequent earnings for men and women –Ìý²¹²Ô»å thus the size of the wage gap.
3. We distinguish between the effects of ageing and birth cohort, something that is only possible with data tracking multiple birth cohorts.

We anticipate cohort effects will be important for three reasons:

1. Different cohorts are exposed to different labour market and policy conditions during their lifetimes. For instance, the 1958 cohort left school when the Equal Pay Act was first being implemented whereas the Act had been in place for a decade when the 1970 cohort left compulsory education.
2. The education gap between men and women has disappeared and even reversed, such that the returns to employment will have shifted markedly between men and women across the generations.
3. Attitudes to women's labour market participation and men's household production have shifted. These changes in social norms, together with attendant changes in public policy, have created opportunities for men and women to combine paid and unpaid work and leisure in ways not hitherto possible, with uncertain consequences for the life choices and earnings patterns of men and women across the life-course.Ìý

Team

The team are all members of the Social Research Institute:Ìý

Principal InvestigatorÌý

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Co-investigators

• Professor
• Dr
• Dr

Advisory board

The team will be supported by aÌýten-strong advisory group:

• Julie Denis, Acas
• Jane Waldfogel, Columbia University
• Eleanor Gall and Rebecca Thomas, Equality and Human Rights Commission
• James Heagerty, Government Equalities Office
• Monica Costa-Dias, Institute for Fiscal Studies
• Gregory Thwaites, The Resolution Foundation
• Nikki Pound, Trades Union Congress

Outputs

• ,ÌýFrancesca Foliano, Alex Bryson, Heather Joshi, Bożena Wielgoszewska, Labour Economics, Volume 91, December 2024, 102614
• – IZA Discussion Paper Number 17255, Alex Bryson, Tim Morris, David Bann, David Wilkinson, August 2024
• ,ÌýHeather Joshi, Alex Bryson, David Wilkinson, Francesca Foliano, Bozena Wielgoszewska, IOE Blog, July 2024
• Ìý–ÌýA talk to sixth formers at St Helen and St Katharine School, Abingdon, Oxfordshire
• –Ìýmaterials from the end-of-project event on 5 June 2024, presented at the British Academy, London
• ÌýPresentation,ÌýBozena Wielgoszewska,ÌýGender Wage Gap Advisory Group, 18 April 2024
• Presentation,ÌýBozena Wielgoszewska, British Journal of Sociology Conference,Ìý15-16 April 2024
• UKDS. Bozena Wielgoszewska. 12 February 2024
• Presentation, Alex Bryson, 23 November 2023, IAB Colloquium Nuremberg Germany
• Presentation, Bozena Wielgoszewska,Ìý7 November 2023
• –ÌýBlog Post, Bozena Wielgoszewska, September 2023
• –ÌýPresentation at the Gender Gaps Conference 2023, Warsaw
• , Seminar at École Normale Supérieure, Paris, 21st April 2023Ìý– Alex Bryson
• Ìý–ÌýPresented at: 25th Colloquium of Personnel Economics, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• –ÌýHM Treasury Seminar, London
• –ÌýBożena Wielgoszewska,ÌýAlex Bryson, Monica Costa-Dias Francesca Foliano, Heather Joshi and David WilkinsonÌý
• , IZA DP No. 15973
• –ÌýSLLS conference October 2022 (Material from the Gender Wage Gap project used as an example in this lecture)
• – Society for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies Conference, October 2022
• –ÌýInvited lecture John Bynner Award, by Heather Joshi, Society for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies Conference, October 2022
• , EALE 2022 Conference –ÌýUniversity of Padua, 8–10 September 2022
• , AIEL 2022 Conference –ÌýUniversity of Salerno, 23 and 24 September 2022
• , WPEG 2022 Conference –ÌýUniversity of Sheffield, 19th July 2022
• Ray Bachan and Alex Bryson, Labour Economics
• . Work, Pensions and Economics Group Annual Conference –Ìý19 July 2022
• . Presented by Heather Joshi to the Birkbeck Department of Economics, 50th Anniversary Conference
• , Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics –ÌýTheodoropoulos, N., Forth, J. and Bryson, A –Ìý2022
• –ÌýPresented by Alex Bryson at the Society of the Economics of the Household Conference, 23 May 2022
• Covid-19 and gender equality –ÌýDr Bożena Wielgoszewska, UCL lunch hour lecture 26 April 2022. Ìý²¹²Ô»å
• –ÌýOrganised by Dr Bożena Wielgoszewska and Dr Francesca Foliano,Ìý21 April 2022
• Ìý–ÌýPresented by Alex Bryson to the Department of Economics at Maynooth Univeristy, 29 April 2022
• Ìý–ÌýPresented by Alex Bryson at the UCL SRI Gender Equality Workshop
• , ISER-University of Essex, 31ÌýMarch 2022
• Ìý–ÌýBozena Wielgoszewska presentation to the Royal Economic Society Annual Conference, 11 April 2022
• , Colloquium on Personnel Economics –ÌýAlex Bryson presentation at Aarhus University, Herning (Denmark) on 17 March 2022
• , School of Economics, Business and Society, 2 February 2022
• ,ÌýCentre for Research in Equality and Diversity seminar, 8 December 2021
• Ìý–ÌýAlex Bryson on Employee Benefits, 19 October 2021
• Ìý–ÌýBożena Wielgoszewska’s presentation at the Society of Longitudinal and Life Course Studies Conference, 20ÌýSeptember 2021
• Ìý–ÌýFrancesca Foliano’s presentation at the Society of Longitudinal and Life Course Studies Conference, 20ÌýSeptember 2021
• Ìý–ÌýBożena Wielgoszewska, Alex Bryson, Monica Costa-Dias, Francesca Foliano, Heather Joshi and David Wilkinson, August 2021
• Ìý–ÌýConference on Life course Analysis: Data and Methodological Challenges, ISER, University of Essex,Ìý7 July 2021
• (pdf, 0.4MB) –Ìý, 17 June 2021
• –ÌýHeather Joshi’s presentation to the UCL Institute of Clinical Trials and Methodology, 7 June 2021
• Ìý–Ìýpresentation at the Royal Economic Society Annual Conference, 13ÌýApril 2021
• The Gender Wage Gap Among Vice Chancellors in the UKÌý–ÌýUCL Lunch Time LectureÌýpresented byÌýProfessor Alex Bryson
• Ìý–ÌýFrancesca Foliano, Alex Bryson, Astrid Kunze, Abi Adams-Prassl, Ghazala Azmat and Emma Duchini, presentationÌýat theÌýRES 2021 Annual Conference, 13 April 2021
• –ÌýRay Bachan and Alex Bryson
• , 3ÌýFebruary 2021
• , 2 February 2021
• Bryson, A., Joshi, H., Wielgoszewska, B. and Wilkinson, D. (2020). , Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 36, 4: 836–854
• , news storyÌýbyÌýHeather Joshi on theÌý1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) website, 14 January 2021
• Joshi, H,. Bryson, A,. Wilkinson, D. and Ward, K. (2020). , Gender, Work & Organization. doi: 10.1111/gwao.12580
• , presented by Alex Bryson at the University of Bournemouth, 11 November 2020
• , presented by Heather Joshi at International Conference on Gender Research,ÌýJuly 16 2020
• , 50 Years of Life in Britain PodcastÌýfeaturing Heather Joshi (from 5 mins, 31 seconds) speaking about the gender wage gap
• ,ÌýHeather Joshi (2020)
• Ìý(PDF, 0.6MB), IZA Discussion Paper
• ,Ìýpresentation at QSS SeminarÌý
• , presentation atÌýthe Paris School of Economics Labour and Public Economics seminar
• Ìý(PDF, 0.2MB),Ìýpresentation to the Annual Conference of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD)Ìý
• , IOE London Blog, UCL
• , IZA Discussion Paper
• Ìý(PDF, 0.6MB),ÌýIZA Discussion Paper
• ÌýIZAÌýWorld of Labor
• , Data Impact Blog, UK Data Service
• Ìý(PDF, 0.9MB), Heather Joshi’s presentation to the European Association of Labour Economists, Uppsala, Sweden