•  
  •  
 

Class Year

2010

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Even after the close of the first decade of the 21st century, there is still significant gender bias in labor market composition and compensation. As the events of the last two years have proven, even drastic efforts of monetary and fiscal policy have not tamed the business cycle. Previous research has reached no definite conclusions on the effect of business cycle trends on the gender wage gap. Over the period from 1979:1 to 2009:3, it is found that increases in the growth rate of GDP yield decreases in women‘s earnings relative to men‘s, and it is also found that increases in the unemployment rate yield increases in female earnings relative to male. It is hypothesized that these significant differences in compensation over the trend of the business cycle correspond to inherent differences in the labor supply curves of men and women.

Download
COinS