Gender wage differentials and educational mismatch: an application to the Spanish case

Abstract

This article aims to analyse gender wage differentials in Spain by taking into account the levels of educational attainment and by studying whether the educational mismatch affects the gender wage gap. Focusing on returns to education, evidence is found on the existence of educational mismatch and on its contribution to determine wages, with women suffering greater wage penalties that are associated with educational mismatch. Furthermore, although the gender wage gap is lower for individuals with low educational levels, we find that the part of this gap due to differences in returns is greater in this group. On the contrary, the gender gap is greater among highly-educated workers, but in this case most of the wage differentials are due to differences in productive characteristics. In any case, our results suggest that gender wage discrimination tends to be greater for those workers who show educational mismatch.

Educational Attainment and Educational Mismatch in the First Employment in Spain

“…This finding is in accordance with previous works such as Alba-Ramirez [5], Sloane et al [22], Groot and Maassen van der Brink [25,26], and Lassibille et al [11]. This phenomenon could be explained if we consider that women could face some discrimination in the labour market [27], so it could contribute to increase the difficulties of finding a suitable job, in the first employment in Spain. Besides, the results show that Spaniards are less prone to be overeducated than foreigners.…”

Gender wage inequality and labour mobility in the hospitality sector

“…workers whose level of education is appropriate to the job). There is also empirical evidence showing the relationship between educational mismatch and gender discrimination, with women suffering greater wage penalties that are associated with educational mismatch (Salinas-Jiménez et al, 2014).…”

The effects of ability on returns to over‐ and under‐education: Evidence from Malaysia

“…Furthermore, women suffer greater wage penalties for over-education, which increases the extent of gender wage discrimination (Salinas-Jiménez, Rahona-López and Murillo-Huertas, 2013) and reduces job satisfaction, especially for those taking care of young children (Shevchuk, Strebkov and Davis, 2015). Considering the age factor, over-education appears to be more common among younger female university graduates, with wage penalties decreasing when accounting for unobserved heterogeneity (Carroll and Tani, 2013).…”