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Title: An Empirical Analysis of Women's Earnings
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Srisuwan, Poonsin
An Empirical Analysis of Women's Earnings
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 1987
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Earnings; Gender Differences; Human Capital Theory; Women; Work Attachment

The participation of women in the labor force in the United States has increased sharply since 1890. This is especially true of married women where participation grew from 5 percent in 1890 to about 50 percent in 1980. A significant gap between wages earned by women and those received by men has narrowed somewhat but still persists. This study seeks to help us understand more fully the determinants of women's earnings and thus throw light on the problem. The data base for this study is the NLS of Mature Women. This survey was conducted between 1967 and 1971 and involved a sample of over 5000 women between the ages of 30 and 44 years. Two models are used, a general model where human capital and family status variables such as number of dependents, marital status and husband's income play a leading role. In the other discontinuous work experience replaces the family status variables. Our main purpose is to improve the reliability of women's earnings functions through the inclusion of more appropriate variables. Two hypotheses are tested. The first is that the human capital model has equal ability to explain the earnings of workers regardless of gender. The second is that the influence of human capital variables is the same for all sectors of the population. The changes in the earnings model which are suggested here do enhance its explanatory power. The first hypothesis is rejected. Many family variables work in opposite directions for the two sexes. The second hypothesis is also rejected since some sectors of the population benefit very little from human capital investment while others realize substantial gains. [UMI ADG87-22102]
Bibliography Citation
Srisuwan, Poonsin. An Empirical Analysis of Women's Earnings. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 1987.