|
on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Xiao Ma (Peking University); Alejandro Nakab (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella); Camila Navajas-Ahumada (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella); Daniela Vidart (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | Women experience slower wage growth than men over their lifetimes, a gap often attributed to the “motherhood wage penalty, ” as childbearing reduces earnings. This paper links this penalty to differences in human capital using a pseudo-event study of first childbirth in Europe to document a “mother-hood training penalty.” Before parenthood, full-time male and female work-ers exhibit similar on-the-job training trends, but their trajectories diverge afterward. In the first 1–3 years of parenthood, women are 17%–22% less likely to train, compared to a 3%–8% decline for men. Additional evidence suggests this gap reflects employers’ lower willingness to finance training for mothers. |
| Keywords: | On-the-Job Training, Human Capital Accumulation, Lifecycle Wage Growth, Gender Gaps |
| JEL: | J24 J16 M53 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2025-04 |
| By: | David Card; Francesco Devicienti; Mariacristina Rossi; Andrea Weber |
| Abstract: | The gender wage gap rises with experience. To what extent do firm policies mediate this rise? We use administrative data from Italy to identify workers' first jobs and compute wage growth over the next 5 years. We then decompose the contribution of first employers to the rise in the gender wage gap, taking account of maternity events affecting a third of female entrants. We find that idiosyncratic firm effects explain 20% of the variation in early career wage growth, and that the sorting of women to slower-growth firms accounts for a fifth of the gender growth gap. Women who have a child within 5 years of entering work have particularly slow wage growth, reflecting a maternity effect that is magnified by the excess sorting of mothers-to-be to slower-growth firms. Many entrants change jobs within their first 5 years, and we find that the male-female difference in early career wage growth arises from gaps for both movers and stayers. The first employer components in wage growth for stayers and movers are highly correlated, and contribute similar sorting penalties for women who stay or leave. |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33730 |
| By: | Elena Simintzi; Sheng-Jun Xu; Ting Xu |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of government-subsidized childcare on women's careers and firm outcomes using linked tax filing data. Exploiting cohort-level variation in childcare access based on a Quebec universal childcare reform, we show that earlier access to childcare not only increases new mothers' employment and earnings, but also prompts them to reallocate careers to firms previously unattractive to new mothers. These firms subsequently benefited from the reform, drawing more young, productive female workers and experiencing better performance. Our results suggest that childcare frictions hamper women's career progression and the allocation of human capital in the labor market. |
| JEL: | G30 G38 J13 J16 J2 J6 M5 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33835 |
| By: | Xianhua Zai (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Peng Li (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Luca Dei Bardi; Kaarina Korhonen; Margherita Moretti (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Mikko Myrskylä (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Pekka Martikainen (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Background: Socioeconomic inequalities exist in each cancer-related aspect globally, but the evidences were relatively fragmented and unsystematic, even within high-income countries with more in-depth data. We aim to assess disparities in cancer stage at diagnosis, treatment, and mortality by socioeconomic status (SES) in Finland to assess inequalities in the whole cancer journey. Methods: All Finnish residents aged 30 years or older and newly diagnosed with cancer between 2000 and 2020 were included in this study, and information including date of diagnosis, cancer type, stage, and treatments, was extracted from the Finnish Cancer Registry. Mortality, SES (education and income) and other demographic characteristics was extracted from the Population Register. Odds ratios (OR) of diagnosed with early stage or later stage, and receiving specific treatment or not across SES groups were estimated using adjusted logistic regression models. The differences of mortality in low and high SES groups were shown in hazard ratios (HR) estimated using adjusted Cox models. Finding: Totally 377, 986 Finnish residents were newly diagnosed with cancer (191, 341 men and 186, 645 women) between 2000 and 2020. Systematic disparities were observed in stage at diagnosis, treatment and mortality in overall cancers and subtypes of cancers, such as prostate, breast, melanoma, and uterine cancer. Patients with high education had 10–16% higher probabilities of being diagnosed with early-stage cancer than people with low education for overall cancer types in both men (OR=1.14, 95% CI=1.11–1.16) and women (OR=1.11, 95% CI=1.10–1.13). Patients with high education had 12–18% higher probabilities to receive surgery (men: OR=1.18, 95% CI=1.15–1.20; women: OR=1.18, 95% CI=1.15–1.21) comparing with patients with low education. Patients with high education had consistently around 20% lower mortality comparing to patients with low education for overall cancers (men: HR=0.79, 95% CI=0.77–0.81; women: HR=0.80, 95% CI=0.78–0.82). Similar patterns were observed across groups with different levels of income. Conclusions: Systematic disparities throughout the cancer journey exist across SES groups in Finland, with low SES people often disadvantaged in cancer stage at diagnosis, treatment, and mortality. |
| Keywords: | Finland, adult mortality, education, income |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2025-016 |