Publication:
Gender Differences in Education, Career Choices and Labor Market Outcomes on A Sample of OECD Countries

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (1.1 MB)
1,232 downloads
Published
2012
ISSN
Date
2012-06-26
Editor(s)
Abstract
In most OECD countries gender differentials in the labor market have experienced a steady reduction in the 1970s and 1980s. Starting with the 1990s, however, the convergence between the labor market performance of men and women has essentially stopped. As a result, gender differentials in the labor market are still significant and persistent. At the same time, differences in pre-labor market characteristics, in particular education, have decreased and in most OECD countries women now acquire more education than men. However, if the differences in the amount of education acquired by men and women are small, the differences in the type of education (such as the field of study, major or other characteristics of the study programme) are still large.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Flabbi, Luca. 2012. Gender Differences in Education, Career Choices and Labor Market Outcomes on A Sample of OECD Countries. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9113 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Digital Object Identifier
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    The Effect of Public Sector Employment on Women's Labour Market Outcomes
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012) Anghel, Brindusa; de la Rica, Sara; Dolado, Juan J.
    This paper addresses the role played by Public Sector (PS) employment across different OECD labour markets in explaining: (i) gender differences regarding occupational choices in either PS or private sector, and (ii) subsequent changes in female labour market outcomes. To do so, we provide some empirical evidence about cross-country gender differences in choice of employment in the PS vs. the private sector using the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), in the light of several theories about patterns of gender behaviour in the labour market. We also analyze the main determinants of the hourly wage gaps across these two sectors for males and females separately. Finally, we document the main stylized facts about gender differences in labour market transitions of workers among inactivity, unemployment, working in the PS and working in the private sector.
  • Publication
    Promoting Gender Parity Lessons From Yemen : A Jica Technical Cooperation Project in Basic Education
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012) Yuki, Takako; Mizuno, Keiko; Ogawa, Keiichi; Sakaia, Mihoko
    Despite remarkable progress supported by international commitment to meeting the MDGs, countries such as Yemen still face great challenges in achieving gender parity in education and in reducing in-country disparities. Strengthening community participatory school management is a key area which JICA has prioritized in its programs for reaching marginalized children and for improving access to and quality of education. One instance of this is a technical cooperation project in Yemen called Broadening Regional Initiative for Developing Girls� Education (BRIDGE) Phase 1 (2005-2008), which piloted a participatory school management model supported by school grants with the objective of eliminating gender disparity in basic education. How successfully has this approach been in such a traditional society? Our analyses of the performance of the project's pilot schools based on analyses of data collected at three points in time - at the initial year and end year of the project and two years after the project's end - suggests the following: Interventions in school management that strongly emphasize girls can be effective in rather quickly improving gender parity regardless of the schools' initial conditions. However, we also observe that the post-project performance of the pilot schools in terms of gender parity is mixed, even though budgets for school grants were allocated by the local government to all pilot schools. We further observe that such variation in performance appears to be significantly correlated to school leaders' perceptions of gender equality, to community participation, and to the number of female teachers employed. These findings point to the importance of continuous long-term guidance to the schools and monitoring of those which implement school improvement programs. Attention should be paid to key factors that might influence school performance, such as those identified in this paper.
  • Publication
    Labor Market Transitions in Egypt Post-Arab Spring
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-07) Deng, Jingyuan; Elmallakh, Nelly; Flabbi, Luca; Gatti, Roberta
    This paper examines the Arab Republic of Egypt’s labor market transition dynamics post–Arab Spring based on the two most recent rounds of the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey conducted in 2012 and 2018. In addition to providing disaggregated-level analysis by examining labor market transitions by gender, education, and age groups, the paper provides a cross-country, cross-regional perspective by comparing Egypt’s labor market transitions with Mexico’s, relying on data from the Encuesta Nacional de Ocupación y Empleo. To match the span of Mexico’s transitions (which are measured over a one-year period) and Egypt’s (which are measured over six years), the analysis uses Monte Carlo simulations of repeated discrete-time Markov chains. Based on these results, the Egyptian labor market appears to be highly rigid compared to the Mexican labor market, which instead shows a large degree of dynamism regardless of individual initial labor market states at baseline. Auxiliary regression analyses focusing on transitions to and from the dominant absorbing labor market states in Egypt —public sector employment for both genders, nonparticipation for women, and the informal sector for men—show that having a post-secondary education is associated with a lower probability of remaining out of the labor force for women who were already out of the labor force at baseline, while being married at baseline is found to be a significant predictor for women to stay out of the labor force if they were already so. Among men, the better educated are found to be more likely to secure formal employment, be it in the public or private sector, and are more likely to keep their public formal jobs once they secure them.
  • Publication
    Labor Market Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the West Bank and Gaza
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-10-10) Deng, Jingyuan; Elmallakh, Nelly; Flabbi, Luca; Gatti, Roberta
    This paper studies the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on men’s labor market outcomes in the West Bank and Gaza, examining adjustments at the extensive (participation) and intensive (hours of work) margins of the labor supply. Quarterly panel data from national labor force surveys allow observing labor market transitions, job loss and job gain rates, and labor market stocks. The findings show that the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a decline in employment and labor market participation among men in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. Moreover, the analysis finds evidence of large adjustments at the intensive margin of employment, as working hours declined. The changes in aggregate labor market indicators seem to be driven by an increase in job loss and a decline in job gain in the West Bank and Gaza. Despite the apparent resilience of the labor market, as labor market indicators quickly bounced back to their pre-pandemic levels, the results show that the most vulnerable segments of the workforce, such as informal workers, workers in blue collar occupations, the least educated, and residents in refugee camps, bore a disproportionately heavier burden.
  • Publication
    Returns to Education in the Marriage Market
    (World Bank, 2023-05-17) Deng, Jingyuan; Elmallakh, Nelly; Flabbi, Luca; Gatti, Roberta
    This paper investigates the marriage market returns to female education by examining the resources transferred from the groom to the bride and her family at the time of marriage, known as the bride price, as well as the husband’s imputed permanent income as an additional source of returns. The study exploits a school reform in Egypt that reduced the number of years required to complete primary education from six to five, creating exogenous variations in the timing of treatment across schools due to its staggered roll-out. To address identification issues, an instrumental variable estimator combined with a Two-Way Fixed Effects (TWFE) model at the birth year and primary school levels is employed. The findings reveal that the estimated return on a bride’s compulsory education is over three times higher in bride price and 20% higher in the husband’s imputed permanent income compared to those without compulsory education. These substantial marriage market returns outweigh labor market returns at the extensive margin of employment. Further empirical evidence suggests that higher female education potentially signals positive outcomes in terms of home production and child-rearing in Egypt, while educational assortative mating also appears to be an important mechanism.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Power Market Sophistication and Sector Outcomes
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-03) Doumbia, Djeneba
    This paper exploits a novel and comprehensive dataset on power market structure over 1989–2020 to analyze the relationship between power market sophistication—defined as the move toward a more competitive market—and final sector outcomes: social performance, electricity reliability, and renewable energy penetration. Unlike most previous studies on the performance of power sector reforms, the paper relies on the de facto implementation of reforms rather than de jure reform adoption. The results of panel regression models suggest that moving from vertically integrated utility models toward more sophisticated power markets is associated with higher electricity access, better consumer affordability, larger renewable energy penetration, and lower system average interruption duration index. The results also highlight that, for certain steps in power market sophistication, improvements in sector outcomes are greater. For instance, moving from vertically integrated utility models to single buyer models is associated with relatively larger improvements in access to electricity and electricity reliability, while moving from wholesale competition to retail competition models is associated with a relatively larger penetration of renewable energy.
  • Publication
    Indicators to Monitor Deeper Regional Trade Integration in Africa
    (Washington, DC, 2015) World Bank
    Stronger regional integration has been a policy priority in Africa for several decades. Countries in Africa have committed to a process of deeper integration, but have made little progress in implementing commitments and removing barriers. This report looks at the monitoring of regional integration in Africa and argues that more effective monitoring processes for existing integration arrangements can help to raise the profile of the prevailing implementation deficits and provide policy makers and civil society with the necessary information to push for corrective action. Currently, most integration monitoring systems are scorecard-based compliance assessments. To obtain information on the impact of integration policies on ordinary traders, indicators of trade transaction costs are required. These can be indirect measures of trade volume changes or price differences, or direct estimates of the various trade cost components. The overall aim of this report is to explore indicators that capture the impact of regional policy reforms on trade transaction costs for ordinary traders, with a focus on indicators that can be linked to the implementation of specific policy measures. The report is organized as follows: section one gives introduction. Section two briefly discusses integration monitoring systems and related indicators in general. Section three presents an overview of regional trade indicators that are currently used by policy makers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Section four discusses the three main types of indicators, compliance with integration commitments, outcomes indirectly and at an aggregate level, and capturing specific trade cost components either directly or indirectly. Section five focuses on generating new indicators from new types of data sources; and section six discusses the way forward.
  • Publication
    Moldova Trade Study
    (Washington, DC, 2016-03-03) World Bank
    Despite strong economic growth since 2000, Moldova remains one of the poorest countries in the region. Excessive reliance on remittances, export dependency on a few products, and insufficient domestic job creation make the Moldovan economy highly vulnerable to external conditions. As a small and open economy, Moldova’s development potential is linked to its trade and investment integration strategy. Moldova is situated between two large markets: the European Union (EU), which absorbs more than half of Moldova’s exports, and the Russian Federation. Reducing the economic distance to large regional markets and reaping the benefits of openness is key to overcoming Moldova's structural constraints and spurring export-led growth. The objective of the Moldova Trade Study is to contribute to a better understanding of the factors and challenges underlying Moldova’s foreign trade performance and to identify policy interventions that can enhance the competitiveness of Moldova’s exporting firms and the value added of their exports. . The rest of the note is structured as follows: (ii) section two summarizes the analysis of Moldova’s export performance; (iii) section three focuses on constraints on Moldova’s competitiveness; (iv) in section four, the authors consider alternative trade policy scenarios and their implications for the Moldovan economy; (v) section five synthetizes existing analysis on constraints for agriculture competitiveness and exports, while section six evaluates the performance of free economic zones in Moldova. In the final section, the authors present policy recommendations
  • Publication
    Digital Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13) Begazo, Tania; Dutz, Mark Andrew; Blimpo, Moussa
    All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.
  • Publication
    FY 2023 Kenya Country Opinion Survey Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2024-01-17) World Bank Group
    The Country Opinion Survey in Kenya assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in better understanding how stakeholders in Kenya perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral/bilateral agencies, media, academia, the private sector, and civil society in Kenya on 1) their views regarding the general environment in Kenya; 2) their overall attitudes toward the WBG in Kenya; 3) overall impressions of the WBG’s effectiveness and results, knowledge work and activities, and communication and information sharing in Kenya; and 4) their perceptions of the WBG’s future role in Kenya.