Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/308052 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper Series No. 82
Publisher: 
University of Waterloo, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), Waterloo
Abstract: 
We consider the role of differences in outside wages-the wages earned by similar workers in other jobs-in shaping pay differentials, focusing on the gender dimension in the U.S. during 1980-2010. Using instruments that exploit differential exposure to common industry wage shocks, we find a substantial role for outside wages. Differences in outside wages account for one-half of the level of, and trends in, the unexplained gender wage gap. Our results offer a reinterpretation of trends in the gender wage gap, and suggest that standard wage decompositions are systematically misleading.
Subjects: 
Wage structure
Gender discrimination
Labor
USA
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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