The American economic historian and labour economist, the first woman to hold an economics professorship at Harvard, is the third woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics.
The prize is excellent news for gender studies in the field of economics. Among Goldin's various areas of research, the gender pay gap stands out — the wage gap by gender at the same contract level.
When we say men earn more than women, what do we mean?
European and Italian data tell us that the "GPG" (gender pay gap) indicator in Italy stands at around 5% (ISTAT 2018 figure) to the disadvantage of women, while in Europe it is around 15% (EUROSTAT 2018 figure). Yet the real gap in 2018 in Italy was 43% against the EU's 36.7%. How is that possible? To understand, we need to consider several indicators.
The indicators that help us understand
To measure the actual differences between men and women in earned income, we must use dedicated indicators that also capture the real dichotomies of the social context: for example, the fact that many women are not present in the labour market, or work fewer hours than men because they are engaged in unpaid care work.
To appreciate the weight of the GPG, we need to consider whether the pay differences concern women and men with the same economic characteristics (education, experience, sector) or not. Only in the latter case can we speak of actual discrimination.
Breaking down the "raw" GPG into an "explained" part and an "unexplained" part, in Italy the "adjusted" GPG turns out to be double the raw one: Italian women are favoured for level of education but disadvantaged by the sectors they work in (less well paid) and by the frequent use of part-time work.
The "GHG" (Gender Hours Gap) measures the gap between the average monthly hours worked by the two genders: in 2018 in Italy it was 18% against an EU average of 12%. The "GOEG" (Gender Overall Earnings Gap) aggregates three indicators — hourly pay gap (GPG), hours-worked gap (GHG) and employment-rate gap (GEG) — and in 2018 in Italy it was 43% against the EU's 36.7%.
GPG between discrimination and participation choices
In examining the situation we must take into account, beyond the possible pay discrimination captured by the GPG, also participation choices, influenced by many factors including individual preferences, constraints and labour market conditions.
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