Wage discrimination revisited – new methodologies and approaches to wage discrimination for the United Kingdom

Ehsan, Saad (2023). Wage discrimination revisited – new methodologies and approaches to wage discrimination for the United Kingdom. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

The thesis is a compilation of essays on labour market wage disparities. It consists of three distinct empirical chapters related to wage and gender discrimination with evidence from the United Kingdom Labour Market.

The first empirical chapter analyses wage discrimination between groups with the same academic background in the UK labour market. The chapter compares nine income quartiles for higher education graduates using the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition techniques. The results indicate that even after controlling for different worker individual determinants, there is gender discrimination. The results show that the total pay gap decreases in higher incomes quartiles. Interestingly, the effect of internal characteristics, the explained portion of the gender pay gap, diminishes at higher income quartiles. So even though there is less of a total pay gap at higher income levels. Most of that gap comes from discrimination rather than the individual determinants between groups (graduates vs. non-graduates).

The second empirical chapter is an extension of the first empirical chapter. In the second chapter, the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition is used to calculate remuneration amounts in a hypothetical question “what would happen if there was no gender discrimination?”. After the
remuneration amounts are calculated, the paper uses an aggregated version of the SocioEconomic Impact Model for the UK (SEIM-UK) (Input-Output multi-regional model) to model four distinct (two sectoral, two regional) scenarios. Comparing the Input-Output analysis from
SEIM-UK at the NUTS1 level and ONS Input-Output at the national level, the paper finds that output could potentially increase by 0.113% to 0.980% nationally by removing gender wage discrimination in the UK labour market.

The third empirical chapter analyses the Covid-19 effects on the UK labour market discrimination. Its main research question focuses on “How did Covid-19 affect males and females differently?”. In particular, the paper enquires, “who faced economic adversity during the Covid-19 pandemic?”. To analyse these research questions, the paper merges the latest data releases from the UK Household Longitudinal Study Covid-19 and the UK Understanding Society Covid-19 waves. The study uses discrete choice econometric estimations to determine if the pandemic affected men and women equally. In particular, income, age, occupation, and ability to telecommute were all critical factors in avoiding economic adversity during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the results show that both genders were equally affected.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):