AEA Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
The Contribution of Employee-Led and Employer-Led Work Flexibility to the Motherhood Wage Gap
AEA Papers and Proceedings
(pp. 243–47)
Abstract
We analyze the contribution of job flexibility to the gender wage gap amongst Danish parents with a professional degree. We use a supervised machine learning approach to measure job flexibility from job vacancy text. We distinguish between employee-led and employer-led flexibility. We estimate pooled Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions to analyze the contribution of occupation-level exposure to flexibility to gender wage gaps. We find that employee- and employer-led flexibility contribute in opposite directions to the unexplained component of the motherhood penalty in earnings and wages for those with a professional bachelor's degree.Citation
Adams, Abi, Mathias Fjællegaard Jensen, and Barbara Petrongolo. 2025. "The Contribution of Employee-Led and Employer-Led Work Flexibility to the Motherhood Wage Gap." AEA Papers and Proceedings 115: 243–47. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20251015Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C45 Neural Networks and Related Topics
- I26 Returns to Education
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J23 Labor Demand
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
- M51 Personnel Economics: Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions