Published in:
Centre for Economic Policy Research 2015 DP10475
Abstract:
This study explores the relationship between the gender wage gap and the firm’s export status using matched employer-employee data from the Norwegian manufacturing sector between 1996 and 2010. We estimate a standard Mincerian wage regression and find evidence of a substantial gender wage gap. More interestingly, the gender wage gap appears to be smaller in exporting firms. This effect is both statistically significant and economically meaningful. Working for an exporting firm is associated with a 5.7 percentage point lower gender differential, which amounts to closing the gender wage gap by about a fifth. This finding is robust to controlling for unobservable worker ability using the sibling’s wage or the parents’ education as proxies. The effect is present when blue and white collar workers, or workers in various occupational categories, are considered separately. Exporters exhibit their distinctive behaviour prior to entry into foreign markets. They are also found to hire a larger share of female workers and female managers.