Intrafirm Mobility and Sex Differences in Pay

Posted: 4 Oct 2004

See all articles by Michael R. Ransom

Michael R. Ransom

Brigham Young University - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Ronald L. Oaxaca

University of Arizona - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Abstract

The authors analyze eleven years of employment data for a regional grocery store chain in the United States that faced a class-action lawsuit over gender discrimination. The data include all employees' job titles, wage rates, and earnings, allowing an examination of initial job assignments, mobility between departments, and mobility into supervisory and management positions. An analysis that models the flows of individuals between different departments and jobs within the firm as a Markov process shows a pattern of intrafirm mobility and initial job assignment that generally penalized women, even when the analysis accounts for individuals' characteristics. Although the court-mandated affirmative action remedies were not formally implemented until after the period of the study, there were clear signs of relative improvement in the economic status of the firm's female employees as a result of the filing of the lawsuit and subsequent trial.

Keywords: gender discrimination,sex differences in pay,affirmative action

JEL Classification: J71, J16, J24

Suggested Citation

Ransom, Michael R. and Oaxaca, Ronald L., Intrafirm Mobility and Sex Differences in Pay. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=598863

Michael R. Ransom (Contact Author)

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Ronald L. Oaxaca

University of Arizona - Department of Economics ( email )

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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