Gender Differences in Job Search: Trading off COMMUTE AGAINST WAGE*

Abstract

We relate gender differences in willingness to commute to the gender wage gap. Using French administrative data on job search criteria, we first document that unemployed women have a lower reservation wage and a shorter maximum acceptable commute than their male counterparts. We then identify indifference curves between wage and commute using the joint distributions of reservation job attributes and of accepted job bundles. Indifference curves are steeper for women, who value commute around 20% more than men. Controlling in particular for the previous job, newly hired women are paid after unemployment 4% less per hour and have a 12% shorter commute than men. Through the lens of a job search model where commuting matters, we estimate that gender differences in commute valuation can account for a 0.5 log point hourly wage deficit for women, i.e., 14 percent of the residualized gender wage gap. Finally, we use job application data to test the robustness of our results and to show that female workers do not receive less demand from far-away employers, confirming that most of the gender gap in commute is supply-side driv

Work from Home Before and After the COVID-19 Outbreak

“…Based on the American Working Conditions Survey, Maestas et al (2018) find a stated preference for WFH implying a willingness-to-pay of 4.1 percent of wages on average. Using French administrative data, Le Barbanchon et al (2020) find that gender differences in commute valuation can account for a .5 log point hourly wage deficit for women.…”

Two-way commuting: Asymmetries from time use surveys

“…The daily commuting of workers is a complex phenomenon that has attracted researchers' attention for many years, as commuting is very important in the daily lives of workers -in Europe, one out of five workers commute more than 90 minutes per day, and commuting times are increasing in many developed economies (Susilo and Maat, 2007;Kirby and LeSage, 2009;McKenzie and Rapino, 2009;Gimenez-Nadal, Molina and Velilla, 2018a). 1 Longer commutes have been related to decreased worker health outcomes (Hansson et al, 2011;Kunn-Nelen, 2016), lower subjective and psychological wellbeing (Kahneman et al, 2004;Kahneman and Krueger, 2006;Roberts, Hodgson and Dolan, 2011;Dickerson, Hole and Munford, 2014), increased sickness absenteeism (van Ommeren and Gutierrez-i-Puigarnau, 2011), increased stress (Wener et al, 2003;Frey and Stutzer, 2008;Gottholmseder et al, 2009;Novaco and Gonzalez, 2009), lower worker productivity (Gimenez-Nadal, Velilla, 2018b, 2020b;Grinza and Rycx 2020), and to significant effects on wages (Leigh, 1986;Crane, 2007;Ross and Zenou, 2008;Ruppert et al, 2009;Mulalic, Van Ommeren and Pilegaard, 2014;Le Barbanchon, Rathelot and Roulet, 2019).…”

El incesante goteo contra la igualdad de oportunidades entre mujeres y hombres

“…Otros trabajos apuntan hacia las diferentes preferencias entre mujeres y hombres en el tipo de puesto de trabajo como mayor causa de la brecha salarial. Por ejemplo, Le Barbanchon et al (2021) encuentran en Francia una menor disposición de las mujeres a la movilidad laboral territorial. Bertrand et al (2010) analizan para Estados Unidos la brecha salarial entre mujeres y hombres altamente cualificados/as en sectores muy competitivos, como las finanzas y la gran empresa.…”