Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP9970
Authors: Liwa Rachel Ngai; Barbara Petrongolo
Abstract: This paper investigates the role of the rise of services in the narrowing of gender gaps in hours and wages in recent decades. We document the between-industry component of the rise in female work for the U.S., and propose a model economy with goods, services and home production, in which women have a comparative advantage in producing market and home services. The rise of services, driven by structural transformation and marketization of home production, acts as a gender-biased demand shift raising women?s relative wages and market hours. Quantitatively, the model accounts for an important share of the observed trends.
Keywords: gender gaps; marketization; structural transformation
JEL Codes: E24; J16; J22
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| rise of the service sector (O14) | female labor market participation (J21) |
| rise of the service sector (O14) | women's relative wages (J31) |
| rise of women's hours in the service sector (J21) | overall increase in female labor market activity (J21) |
| marketization (M31) | shift of women's labor from home production to market services (D13) |
| rise of the service sector (O14) | gender gaps in labor market participation (J21) |