Evolution of gender wage gap in Peru, 1997-2000

Abstract

Wage differentials result from different years of education or experience or size of the firms, and also from other factors that do not have anything to do with the labor characteristics of the individuals. One of these factors is usually gender. The wage differential due to gender, and not to differences in labor characteristics, is called discrimination. The goal of this project is to estimate the evolution of the wages differentials and wage discrimination between males and females in Peru within and between 1997 and 2000, a time of economic recession in Peru. The wages differentials estimations show that all categories of males and females saw their real wages decreased; only blue-collar females saw their real wages increased; the return to the interaction between education and specific experience follow a linear trend. This means that more education and more experience will be rewarded at the same rate at any combination. The wage discrimination estimation shows that there was a small but significant wage discrimination in favor of women in 1997 and it disappeared by 2000. This showed that employers reduced all premiums to their employees during a period of economic recession.