Wage Growth and Mobility Between and Within Firms by Gender and Education

Abstract

Using propensity score matching combined with the differences-in-differences method this paper investigates gender differences in the wage effects of job mobility among young white-collar workers in the Finnish manufacturing sector over the period 1997-2006. A novel feature of our paper is that besides distinguishing between intrafirm and interfirm job changes we also investigate mobility and wage growth by educational level. These refinements prove to be important. Our results indicate that both kinds of mobility boost wage growth, but the positive effects are much higher for interfirm mobility. Also the gender gap in the returns to job changes varies with the type of mobility, the gap being 1.2 percentage points with interfirm mobility and non-existent when job changes within firms are considered. Furthermore, we find that there are differences in the returns to mobility between educational levels. The low-educated women benefit less from mobility than the high-educated women, especially with employer changes. For men, on the other hand, no such variation in the wage effects of mobility across educational levels is observed.

• ISSN: 1795-1801
• ISBN: 978-952-209-082-9
• JEL: J31, J62
• Publication in PDF-format