One Man's Blessing, Another Woman's Curse? Family Factors and the Gender-Earnings Gap of Doctors

Stefanie Schurer, Daniel Kühnle (), Anthony Scott () and Terence Cheng ()
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Daniel Kühnle: University of Duisburg-Essen
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Daniel Kuehnle ()

No 7017, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using data from a new longitudinal survey of doctors from Australia, the authors test whether observed large gender-pay gaps among general practitioners (GPs) are the result of women's larger willingness to interrupt their careers. On average, female GPs earn A$83,000 or 54% less than male GPs. The difference between men and women with children is A$105,000, and A$45,000 for men and women without children. Of this gap, 66-75% is explained by differences in observable characteristics such as hours worked. The family gap emerges also within the sexes. Female GPs with children experience an earnings penalty of A$15,000-A$25,000 in comparison to women without children; almost 100% of this difference is due to observable characteristics such as hours worked and career interruptions. Male GPs with children experience a family premium of A$35,000 in comparison to men without children, indicating the presence of a breadwinner effect that exacerbates the gender-earnings gap.

Keywords: family physicians; decomposition methods; labour force attachment; family-earnings gap; gender-earnings gap; MABEL (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2012-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-hea, nep-lab, nep-lma and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Forthcoming - published in: Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 2016, 55(3), 385-414

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Working Paper: One Man's Blessing, Another Woman's Curse? Family Factors and the Gender-Earnings Gap of Doctors (2012)
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