Skill specificity of upper-secondary training occupations and the gender pay gap

Grønning, Miriam; Kriesi, Irene; Sacchi, Stefan (2020). Skill specificity of upper-secondary training occupations and the gender pay gap. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 72(S1), pp. 291-315. Springer VS 10.1007/s11577-020-00678-z

[img]
Preview
Text
Grønning2020_Article_SkillSpecificityOfUpper-Second.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Publisher holds Copyright.

Download (601kB) | Preview
[img]
Preview
Text
Groenning_Kriesi_Sacchi_2020_AAM.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Publisher holds Copyright.

Download (873kB) | Preview

Gender disparities in wages are still fairly large. On average, women earn less than men from the beginning of their careers. This article investigates whether young men and women with vocational education and training receive different returns for occupation-specific and general skills, a topic that has hitherto received little attention. Theoretically, we draw on a culturalist approach as well as on the varieties of capitalism approach. The analyses are based on a combination of detailed occupation-level data on the specificity of training occupations and individual-level data from the Swiss Labour Force Survey on the incomes of upper-secondary vocational diploma holders. The results of multilevel regression models show that men and women’s incomes are affected by a complex interplay between gender and skill endowment. Occupation-specific vocational skills only secure high income in the early career only for men who trained in male-typed or gender-neutral occupations. Women profit from a high proportion of general knowledge in their training. Furthermore, we find evidence for a general devaluation of female-typed skills. In sum, the findings suggest that employers’ discriminatory remuneration practices, a general devaluation of female-typed skills, and young people’s rational skill investment decisions contribute jointly to the gender gap in income.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Institute of Sociology

UniBE Contributor:

Sacchi, Stefan (A)

Subjects:

300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 330 Economics
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 370 Education

ISSN:

0023-2653

Publisher:

Springer VS

Language:

English

Submitter:

Stefan Sacchi

Date Deposited:

29 Jun 2020 08:33

Last Modified:

29 Mar 2023 23:37

Publisher DOI:

10.1007/s11577-020-00678-z

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Gender Pay Gap Skill Specificity General Education Occupational gender segregation Vocational Education and Training Varieties of Capitalism Devaluation Theory

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.143390

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/143390

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback