Sectoral Gender Wage Differentials and Discrimination in the Transitional Chinese Economy

• Published in: Journal of population economics Vol. 13; no. 2; pp. 331 - 352
• Main Authors: Liu, Pak-Wai, Meng, Xin, Zhang, Junsen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin, etc Springer International 01.05.2000; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Centrally planned economies; China; Datasets; Economic reform; Egalitarianism; Employees; Employers; Employment discrimination; Equal pay; Gender differentiation; Gender discrimination; Gender pay gap; Gender wage gap; Labor market; Planning; Population economics; Private enterprises; Private sector; Public enterprises; Sectoral development; Sex discrimination; Symposium on Gender Differences in Transition to Market Economies; Wage differential; Wage differentials; Wages; Wages & salaries
• ISSN: 0933-1433; 1432-1475
• DOI: 10.1007/s001480050141

China's economic reform has affected various ownership sectors to different degree. A comparison of gender wage differentials and discrimination among individuals employed in the three sectors -- state sector, the collective sector, and the private sector -- provides information on the impact of economic reform. Two Chinese data sets from Shanghai and Jinan are used to examine the gender wage gap across the three sectors. It is found that privatization/marketization of the economy leads to larger wage differentials as human capital characteristics are more appropriately rewarded. Both data sets show that the relative share of discrimination in the overall gender wage differential declines substantially across ownership sectors from the state to the private. The increase in gender wage differential due to marketization is much larger than any increase in differential that may arise from more gender discrimination.