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Abstract
The objective of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the role of bargaining and discrimination in the gender wage gap in France and four selected European countries (Denmark, Hungary, Portugal, and Sweden) using comprehensive linked employer-employee data. The role of bargaining and discrimination is analysed by focusing on systematic differences in wage-setting practices between men and women in the same firm through the estimation of gender-specific firm wage premia. The paper provides three key insights. First, bargaining and discrimination account for only a small part of the gender wage gap in France: 1.3 percentage points or 10% of the total gap. Second, the component of the gender wage gap that can be attributed to bargaining and discrimination is higher in high-wage or high-productivity firms in all countries considered. Third, cross-country differences in the importance of bargaining and discrimination in the gender wage gap reflect both systematic differences in wage-setting practices within firms and imperfections in the product market that generate persistent rents.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Agnes Puymoyen for excellent research assistance, Stephane Carcillo, Valerie Frey, Jonas Fluchtmann, Nikki Kergozou, Federica Meluzzi and Veronique Simonnet for helpful comments and discussions and DARES for financial support. The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the OECD or their member states.
In Brief
[French version below]
Background and objective
The gender wage gap remains a stubborn obstacle to gender equality in France as well as most other OECD countries. According to the official OECD gender statistics, the gender wage gap in 2022 stood at 12% in France, the same as for the OECD on average. This means that at the median a woman working full-time makes 88 cents for every euro earned by a man working full-time. The gender wage gap mainly reflects pay differences within firms due to differences in tasks and responsibilities or differences in pay for work of equal value. To a limited extent, it also reflects the tendency of women to work in low-wage firms and industries. It does not reflect differences in qualifications since women today tend to be better qualified than men.
To tackle gender wage gaps within...