Incorporating Occupational Attainment in Studies of Male-Female Earnings Differentials

The differences in the occupational distributions of men and women are an important source of male-female differentials. However, most studies of wage differences concentrate only on either occupational segregation or the problem of unequal pay for equal work. Here, these 2 approaches are refined and merged, and allowance is made for variation both in occupational distribution and in wages resulting from differences in job qualifications and productivity indicators.A multinomial logit analysis is used to predict occupational attainment for men from a set of characteristics, and then, an occupational distribution for women is simulated. Wages are estimated as a function of productivity measures for both men and women within each occupation. The model finds that only 14 to 17% of the total wage differential is attributable to differences in endowments and that more of the unexplained difference results from within-rather than across-broad occupational categories. Appendices.