New Workplace Practices and the Gender Wage Gap: Can the New Economy Be the Great Equalizer?

34 Pages Posted: 24 Mar 2006

See all articles by Nabanita Datta Gupta

Nabanita Datta Gupta

Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Tor Eriksson

Aarhus University - Department of Economics and Business Economics

Date Written: March 2006

Abstract

We estimate the effect of introducing new workplace practices on the gender gap in wages in the manufacturing sector. We use a unique 1999 survey on work and compensation practices of Danish private sector firms merged to a large matched employer-employee database. Self-managed teams, project organisation and job rotation schemes are the most widely implemented work practices. Our estimates from a difference-in-differences model of wages and work practices show that the wage gains from adopting new workplace practices accrue mainly to males so that the gender gap in pay increases at the level of the firm, in particular among hourly-paid workers. Considering practices individually, however, a few exceptions are seen: the gender wage gap among salaried workers is significantly reduced in firms which offer project organisation, while the gap in pay among workers paid by the hour is significantly reduced with the use of quality control circles. All in all, however, the new economy is not the great equalizer.

Keywords: new workplace practices, employer-employee data, wage differentials, gender

JEL Classification: J16, J31, M54

Suggested Citation

Datta Gupta, Nabanita and Eriksson, Tor, New Workplace Practices and the Gender Wage Gap: Can the New Economy Be the Great Equalizer? (March 2006). IZA Discussion Paper No. 2038, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=892840 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.892840

Nabanita Datta Gupta (Contact Author)

Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University ( email )

Fuglesangs Allé 4
8210 Aarhus V
Denmark
+45 87165207 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://pure.au.dk/portal/da/ndg@econ.au.dk

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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

Tor Eriksson

Aarhus University - Department of Economics and Business Economics ( email )

Fuglesangs Allé 4
Aarhus, 8210
Denmark
45 87164978 (Phone)

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