Working Paper: NBER ID: w25982
Authors: Andreas Menzel; Christopher Woodruff
Abstract: Data from 70 large export-oriented garment manufacturers in Bangladesh show that gender wage gaps are similar to those found in higher-income countries. Among production workers, women’s wages are 8 percent lower. We show that by combining short administrative panels, survey data from a representative sample of workers, and structure, we can estimate how the wage gap evolves over workers’ careers. Gender differences in internal and across-factory promotions contribute roughly equally to the emergence of the gender gap over worker careers. Differences in promotion rates appear to arise mainly from career concerns rather than frictions coming from household responsibilities.
Keywords: gender wage gap; worker mobility; garment sector; Bangladesh
JEL Codes: J16; J31; O14
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| gender differences in internal and across-factory promotions (M51) | wage gap (J31) |
| gender (J16) | wage growth (J31) |
| gender (J16) | promotion rates (M51) |
| differences in skills (J24) | static wage gaps (J31) |
| marriage (J12) | mobility for men and women (J62) |
| lower investment in skills by women (J24) | gender wage gap (J31) |
| lower returns on skill investments (J24) | gender wage gap (J31) |