WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

WOMEN, WORK, & THE ECONOMY: MACROECONOMIC GAINS FROM GENDER EQUITY

 

Direct Link to Full 32-Page International Monetary Fund (IMF) 2013 Document:

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/sdn/2013/sdn1310.pdf

“Women make up a little over half the world’s population, but their contribution to measured economic activity, growth, and well-being is far below its potential, with serious macroeconomic consequences.Despite significant progress in recent decades, labor markets across the world remain divided along gender lines, and progress toward gender equality seems to have stalled. Female labor force participation (FLFP) has remained lower than male participation, women account for most unpaid work, and when women are employed in paid work, they are overrepresented in the informal sector and among the poor. They also face significant wage differentials vis-à-vis their male colleagues. In many countries, distortions and discrimination in the labor market restrict women’s options for paid work, and female representation in senior positions and entrepreneurship remains low.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_324645/lang--en/index.htm

 

GLOBAL WAGE REPORT 2014-2015 – ILO

 

Global wage growth stagnates, lags behind pre-crisis rates. The latest ILO Global Wage Report warns of stalled wages in many countries and points to the labour market as a driver of inequality.

 

Direct Link to ILO 12-Page Report Executive Summary:

http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_324839.pdf

 

Some groups suffer from discrimination and wage penalties

 

The report shows that in almost all countries studied there are wage gaps between

men and women as well as between national and migrant workers. These gaps

arise for multiple and complex reasons that differ from one country to another

and vary at different points of the overall wage distribution. These wage gaps can

be divided into an “explained” part, which is accounted for by observed human

capital and labour market characteristics, and an “unexplained” part, which

captures wage discrimination and includes characteristics (e.g. having children)

that should in principle have no effect on wages. The report shows that if this

unexplained

 

wage penalty was eliminated, the mean gender wage gap would actually

reverse in Brazil, Lithuania, the Russian Federation, Slovenia and Sweden,

where the labour market characteristics of the disadvantaged groups should result

in higher wages. It would also nearly disappear in about half the countries in the

sample of developed economies.

 

A similar analysis is carried out to compare the wages of migrants with

those of national workers, showing that in various countries the mean wage gap

would reverse if the unexplained part of the gap was eliminated. Among developed

economies, this is the case in Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,

Norway, Poland and Sweden. In Chile, migrant workers earn more than their

national counterparts on average.

 

The report also finds a wage gap between workers in the formal and the

informal economy; this is shown in the report, for example, in wage gaps affecting

workers in the informal economy for selected Latin American countries. As with

gender and migrant wage gaps, the wage gap for workers in the informal economy

is generally lowest in the bottom deciles and increases for higher wage earners.

In addition, the observable labour market characteristics of informal economy

workers differ from workers in the formal economy across all points of the wage

distribution and for all countries (i.e. there is an explained gap across the entire

distribution). At the same time, however, the unexplained part of the wage gap

remains significant.