Occupational Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap in a Dynamic East Asian Economy

Abstract

Labor markets in the East Asian “miracle” economies have undergone profound changes in recent decades as their comparative advantage in low‐wage labor diminished and jobs shifted toward higher‐skill manufacturing and services. This study uses an occupational decomposition technique to examine how such shifts in East Asia's occupational structures have affected trends in their gender wage gaps. The wage gap is decomposed into across‐occupation and within‐occupation factors that are each further separated into wage and employment components. Results based on a comprehensive labor force data set for Taiwan show that within‐occupation pay discrepancies account for the bulk of gender wage inequity.