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Gender Gaps in Spain: Policies and Outcomes over the Last Three Decades
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Gender Gaps in Spain: Policies and Outcomes over the Last Three Decades

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  • Nezih Guner
  • Ezgi Kaya
  • Virginia Sánchez-Marcos

Abstract

We document recent trends in gender equality in employment and wages in Spain. Despite an impressive decline in the gender gap in employment, females are still less likely to work than males: about 76% of working age males and 63% of working age females were employed in 2010. If females work they are more likely to be employed part time and with temporary contracts. The large increase in female employment, from 28% in 1977 to 63% in 2010, was accompanied by a significant decline in fertility. The gender gap in wages, after controlling for worker and job characteristics as well as for selection, is high. It was about 20% in 2010, quite close to its value in 1994. Furthermore, the gender gap in wages is driven mainly by differences in returns to individual characteristics. While women are more qualified than men in observable labor market characteristics, they end up earning less. There have been several important policy changes that try to help families reconcile family responsibilities with market work. The existing literature suggests that households do react to incentives generated by different policies and policy changes are at least partly responsible for changes in female labor supply. In recent decades, the large inflow of immigrants, who provided relatively cheap household services, allowed more educated women to enter the labor market. Policy challenges, however, remain.

Suggested Citation

  • Nezih Guner & Ezgi Kaya & Virginia Sánchez-Marcos, 2014. "Gender Gaps in Spain: Policies and Outcomes over the Last Three Decades," Working Papers 751, Barcelona School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:bge:wpaper:751
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Género, mercado laboral y políticas públicas en España: tres décadas de evolución
      by Virginia Sánchez Marcos in Politikon on 2015-03-05 15:13:18

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    4. Aitor Lacuesta & Sergio Puente & Ernesto Villanueva, 2020. "The schooling response to a sustained increase in low-skill wages: evidence from Spain 1989–2009," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 457-499, December.
    5. German Cubas & Chinhui Juhn & Pedro Silos, 2023. "Coordinated Work Schedules and the Gender Wage Gap," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(651), pages 1036-1066.
    6. Ezgi Kaya, 2023. "Gender wage gap trends in Europe: The role of occupational skill prices," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 162(3), pages 385-405, September.
    7. Amparo Nagore García, 2017. "Gender Differences in Unemployment Dynamics and Initial Wages over the Business Cycle," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 228-260, June.
    8. Luisa Fuster, 2021. "Las pensiones de viudedad en España," Studies on the Spanish Economy eee2021-06, FEDEA.
    9. St鰨ane Bonhomme & Laura Hospido, 2013. "Earnings inequality in Spain: new evidence using tax data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(30), pages 4212-4225, October.
    10. Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti & Laura Hospido & Andrés Atienza-Maeso, 2024. "Is Equality Regulation Effective in Reducing Gender Gaps in the Labor Market? Quantification and Evidence for Spain," Working papers 943, Banque de France.
    11. Claudia Hupkau & Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela, 2022. "Work and children in Spain: challenges and opportunities for equality between men and women," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 243-268, May.
    12. Brindusa Anghel & J. Ignacio Conde-Ruiz & Ignacio Marra de Artíñano, 2019. "Brechas Salariales de Género en España," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 229(2), pages 87-119, June.
    13. Eyal Bar-Haim & Louis Chauvel & Janet C. Gornick & Anne Hartung, 2023. "The Persistence of the Gender Earnings Gap: Cohort Trends and the Role of Education in Twelve Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 821-841, February.
    14. Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Iga Magda, 2013. "Decomposition of trends in youth unemployment – the role of job accessions and separations in countries with different employment protection regimes," Working Papers 53, Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics.
    15. Kaya, Ezgi, 2014. "Gender Wage Gap Trends in Europe: The Role of Occupational Allocation and Skill Prices," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2014/23, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section.
    16. Namkee Ahn & Virginia Sánchez-Marcos, 2020. "Analysis of fertility using cohort-specific socio-economic data," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 711-733, September.
    17. Jorge González Chapela, 2015. "Split or straight? Evidence of the effects of work schedules on workers’ well-being, time use, and productivity," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 153-177, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender employment gap; gender wage gap; occupational segregation; quantile regressions; selection; public policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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