Sector Differences in Glass Ceiling in Sweden -Is It Tied to Occupational Segregation?

This paper explores sector differences in how the gender wage gap varies across the wage distribution and the role of occupational segregation in explaining this variation for Sweden. Results indicate that the phenomenon known as the glass ceiling, i.e. larger gender wage differentials at the high e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc
Main Author Özcan, Gülay
Format Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 01.01.2010
Subjects
Gender
Occupations
Public sector
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Summary:This paper explores sector differences in how the gender wage gap varies across the wage distribution and the role of occupational segregation in explaining this variation for Sweden. Results indicate that the phenomenon known as the glass ceiling, i.e. larger gender wage differentials at the high end of the wage distribution is stronger in the public sector than the private. This difference is found to be due to occupational segregation and, to a large extent, pre-market educational choices. Most of the top/bottom differences within the public sector stem from the county level and is due to gender segregation between few occupations. These results indicate that the mechanisms behind the glass ceiling, and observed sector differences are attributable to occupational segregation by gender.