Employer-sponsored health insurance and the gender wage gap

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Health Economics
Year: 2016
Volume: 45
Issue: C
Pages: 103-114

Authors (2)

Cowan, Benjamin (not in RePEc) Schwab, Benjamin (Kansas State University)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

During prime working years, women have higher expected healthcare expenses than men. However, employees’ insurance rates are not gender-rated in the employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) market. Thus, women may experience lower wages in equilibrium from employers who offer health insurance to their employees. We show that female employees suffer a larger wage gap relative to men when they hold ESI: our results suggest this accounts for roughly 10% of the overall gender wage gap. For a full-time worker, this pay gap due to ESI is on the order of the expected difference in healthcare expenses between women and men.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jhecon:v:45:y:2016:i:c:p:103-114
Journal Field
Health
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29