Working Paper: NBER ID: w24790
Authors: Todd R. Stinebrickner; Ralph Stinebrickner; Paul J. Sullivan
Abstract: Gender differences in current and past job tasks may be crucial for understanding the gender wage gap. We use novel task data to address well-known measurement concerns, including that standard task measures assume away within-occupation gender differences in tasks. We find that unique measures of task-specific experience, in particular high-skilled information experience, are of particular importance for understanding the substantial widening of the wage gap early in the career. Highlighting the importance of these measures, traditional work-related proxies for gender differences in human capital accumulation are not informative because general work experience is similar by gender for our recent graduates.
Keywords: gender wage gap; job tasks; college graduates
JEL Codes: J01; J16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| gender differences in current job tasks (J21) | gender wage gap (J31) |
| accumulated task-specific experience (J24) | gender wage gap (J31) |
| current job tasks (J29) | accumulated task-specific experience (J24) |
| gender differences in accumulated task-specific experience (J21) | gender wage gap (J31) |