AME Cluster Seminar

Event details

Author:  Doug Scott (York)

Title: The Company They Keep: Is Gender-Minority Avoidance Driving Young People’s Job Preferences in LMICs?

Abstract: We examine whether gender differences in preferences for non-pecuniary job attributes contribute to labour market disparities among young adults in Ethiopia, India, and Peru. Using stated-preference experiments, we estimate willingness to pay for a written contract, flexible working arrangements, and the avoidance of workplaces in which one is the gender minority. We find that women display a markedly stronger aversion to gender-minority workplaces, particularly in India and Peru, while preferences for written contracts vary across countries. The availability of a flexible working schedule is valued relatively little. We combine these estimates with observed labour market outcomes to construct counterfactual earnings and employment outcomes, where women’s valuations of job attributes are equated to those of men. We show that differences in preferences regarding workplace gender composition explain a substantial share of gender earnings gaps among workers and the desired labour supply among the unemployed. These findings highlight heterogeneity in preferences over the workplace environment as an important determinant of gender inequality in LMIC labour markets.

Host: Cheti Nicoletti (York)

Cluster: AME (Applied Microeconometrics)