2023 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Life-Cycle Earnings Profiles, Informality, Inequality and Impacts of COVID-19 in Developing Economies
| Project/Area Number |
21K01439
|
|---|
| Research Institution | National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
Hsu Minchung 政策研究大学院大学, 政策研究科, 教授 (20467062)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2021-04-01 – 2025-03-31
|
| Keywords | gender wage gap |
|---|
| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In FY2023, We worked on the gender wage gap issue in Japan. Our study delves into the examination of the gender wage gap over age in Japan following Goldin et al. (2017). Using the Basic Survey on Wage Structure (BSWS) data, the study aims to understand how the gap evolves over time and provides insights into its sources in Japan. The findings indicate that the wage gap widens significantly with age and is most pronounced among highly educated individuals. Additionally, our study reveals that the gap for high-education workers lessens when controlling for manager-level positions, suggesting that a significant portion of the wage gap for the high-education can be ascribed to the under-representation of women in these roles.
|
| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
We have collected individual-level data from the Basic Survey of Wage Structure (BSWS), an annual survey conducted by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW). The BSWS comprehensively surveys wages across all industries in Japan.
With permission from the MHLW, this study utilized BSWS data from 2005 to 2019. The BSWS data has several advantages, such as wage and working hour records based on payroll rather than self-reporting, providing accurate data on monthly wages, overtime pay, bonuses, benefits, hours worked, and overtime.
We have cleaned the data, implemented empirical analysis and had reasonable benchmark results.
|
| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Given the empirical framework, we plan to test 3 possible factors causing the patterns of the gender wage gap in Japan:
1) regular job position (women might tend to work in non-regular positions to have more flexibility);
2) long working hours for high-pay jobs (women might opt out from high-pay jobs requiring long hours);
3) managerial positions (women might have fewer chances to be appointed as managers)
|
| Causes of Carryover |
Due to the long process of data application and the complication of data cleaning, we need more time to complete the research project. We plan to improve the research methodology and refine the draft in AY2024. Then we plan to submit the research findings to a high-quality international journal. Therefore, we would like to extend the project to AY2024.
|
