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Gender and ethnic earnings gaps in seven West African cities

Author

Listed:
  • Nordman, Christophe J.
  • Robilliard, Anne-Sophie
  • Roubaud, François
Abstract
In this paper, we measure, compare and analyse gender and ethnic earnings gaps in seven West African capitals using data from an original series of urban household surveys. Our results show that gender earnings gaps are large in all the cities in our sample with significant variations across cities. Cities with large gender earnings gaps are also where gender education gaps are wider and where the female labour market participation is highest. Decomposition of the gender gaps shows that differences in characteristics explain around 40% of the raw gender gap on average, but this varies somewhat across cities. The results of the full decomposition of the gender earnings gaps suggest that differences in sector allocation contribute, on average, to one third of gender earnings gaps. Gender gaps are very wide in the informal sector and differences in micro-firm characteristics also account for differences in self-employment earnings. In contrast to the large gender earnings gaps measured in the seven cities, majority ethnic groups do not appear to be in a systematically advantageous position on the urban labour markets in our sample of cities, and observed gaps are small compared with gender gaps. Looking at more detailed levels of ethnic disaggregation, ethnic earnings differentials are found to be systematically smaller than gender differentials. Moreover, none of the minority “favoured” groups seem to have any relation to the ethnicity of the Head of State at the time of the survey. Holding productive characteristics constant, some unexplained differences persist however.

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  • Nordman, Christophe J. & Robilliard, Anne-Sophie & Roubaud, François, 2011. "Gender and ethnic earnings gaps in seven West African cities," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(S1), pages 132-145.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:18:y:2011:i:s1:p:s132-s145
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2011.09.003
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    3. Christophe J Nordman & Leopold R Sarr & Smriti Sharma, 2019. "Skills, personality traits, and gender wage gaps: evidence from Bangladesh," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 71(3), pages 687-708.
    4. Nordman, Christophe J. & Rakotomanana, Faly & Roubaud, François, 2016. "Informal versus Formal: A Panel Data Analysis of Earnings Gaps in Madagascar," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-17.
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    6. Mathias Kuepié & Christophe J. Nordman, 2016. "Where Does Education Pay Off in Sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from Two Cities of the Republic of Congo," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 1-27, January.
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    8. Yan Wu & Janneke Pieters & Nico Heerink, 2021. "The gender wage gap among China’s rural–urban migrants," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 23-47, February.
    9. Nordman, Christophe Jalil & Sarr, Leopold & Sharma, Smriti, 2015. "Cognitive, Non-Cognitive Skills and Gender Wage Gaps: Evidence from Linked Employer-Employee Data in Bangladesh," IZA Discussion Papers 9132, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Muhammad Qahraman Kakar, 2021. "Ethnic Disparities, Women Education and Empowerment in South Asia," Erudite Ph.D Dissertations, Erudite, number ph21-01 edited by Manon Domingues Dos Santos.
    11. Giulia La Mattina & Gabriel Picone & Alban Ahoure & Jose Carlos Kimou, 2017. "Female leaders and gender gaps within the firm: Evidence from three sub-Saharan African countries," WIDER Working Paper Series 063, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Bhabesh Hazarika, 2020. "Gender income gap in rural informal micro-enterprises: an unconditional quantile decomposition approach in the handloom industry," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 441-473, September.
    13. Elisabeth Cudeville & Charlotte Guénard & Anne-Sophie Robilliard, 2017. "Polygamy and female labour supply in Senegal," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-127, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Hansen, Henrik & Rand, John & Win, Ngu Wah, 2022. "The gender wage gap in Myanmar: Adding insult to injury?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    15. Livini Donath & Oliver Morrissey & Trudy Owens, 2021. "Pay period and the distributional effect of education on earnings: Evidence from recentered influence function," Discussion Papers 2021-02, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    16. Hazarika, Bhabesh, 2017. "Decomposition of Gender Income Gap in Rural Informal Micro-enterprises: An Unconditional Quantile Approach in the Handloom Industry," Working Papers 17/216, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    17. A. D. Dzossa & Mathias Kuepié & Anne-Sophie Robilliard, 2015. "Variabilité spatiale et temporelle du taux d'emploi des femmes en Afrique Subsaharienne : que racontent les données des EDS," Post-Print hal-03656885, HAL.
    18. Goensch, Iris, 2013. "Does the availability of secondary schools increase primary schooling? Empirical evidence from northern Senegal," Discussion Papers 63, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Center for international Development and Environmental Research (ZEU).
    19. Melaku Abegaz & Gibson Nene, 2018. "Gender Wage and Productivity Gaps in the Manufacturing Industry. The Case of Ghana," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 37(3), pages 313-326, September.
    20. Jamelia Harris, 2019. "Occupational choice of skilled workers in the presence of a large development sector: Evidence from Sierra Leone," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-101, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    21. Elisabeth Cudeville & Charlotte Guénard & Anne-Sophie Robilliard, 2017. "Polygamy and female labour supply in Senegal," WIDER Working Paper Series 127, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
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    23. Sung‐Bou Kim, 2020. "Gender earnings gap among the youth in Malawi," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(2), pages 176-187, June.
    24. Giulia La Mattina & Gabriel Picone & Alban Ahoure & Jose Carlos Kimou, 2017. "Female leaders and gender gaps within the firm: Evidence from three sub-Saharan African countries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-63, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Earnings equations; Gender wage gap; Ethnic wage gap; West Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

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