Abstract:
This paper assesses the magnitude and nature of the gender pay gap in Ireland using the National Employment Survey 2003, an employeremployee matched dataset. The results suggest that while a wage bargaining system centred around social partnership was of benefit to females irrespective of their employment status, the minimum wage mechanism appears to improve the relative position of part-time females only. Trade union membership was associated with a widening gender pay gap in the full-time labour market and a narrowing differential among part-time workers. In relation to the motivations for working part-time, which help us to account for selection into part-time employment, our results indicate that when these factors are incorporated into the part-time decomposition, the previously observed wage gap is eliminated.
