published in: Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 2007, 60 (2), 163-186
Using harmonised data from the European Union Household Panel, we analyse gender pay
gaps by sector across the wages distribution for ten countries. We find that the mean gender
pay gap in the raw data typically hides large variations in the gap across the wages
distribution. We use quantile regression (QR) techniques to control for the effects of
individual and job characteristics at different points of the distribution, and calculate the part
of the gap attributable to differing returns between men and women. We find that, first,
gender pay gaps are typically bigger at the top of the wage distribution, a finding that is
consistent with the existence of glass ceilings. For some countries gender pay gaps are also
bigger at the bottom of the wage distribution, a finding that is consistent with sticky floors.
Third, the gender pay gap is typically higher at the top than the bottom end of the wage
distribution, suggesting that glass ceilings are more prevalent than sticky floors and that
these prevail in the majority of our countries. Fourth, the gender pay gap differs significantly
across the public and the private sector wages distribution for each of our EU countries.
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