Gender Gaps in the Labor Market and Economic Growth

Agenor, Pierre-Richard ; Karakurum Ozdemir, Kamer ; Pinto Moreira, Emmanuel

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: GENDER EQUALITY;    GENDER GAP;    INEQUALITY;    EMPLOYMENT;    ECONOMIC GROWTH;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8661
RP-ID  :  WPS8661

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper studies the effects ofpolicies aimed at mitigating discrimination against women inthe marketplace on the gender wage gap, decisions to investin skills, the composition of employment and unemployment,and long-run growth. The analysis uses a gender-basedoverlapping generations model with labor market rigidities.Gender bias in the workplace varies inversely with thepresence of skilled women (as agents of change) in the labormarket and has a direct impact on their bargaining power inthe family. The model is calibrated for Morocco. Experimentsshow that although the benefits of policies aimed atmitigating gender bias in the workplace can promote growthand be significantly magnified through a stronger presenceof skilled women in the labor market, a trade-off may emergewith respect to female unemployment when anti-discriminationpolicies are combined with policies aimed at subsidizingwomen's training. To internalize this trade-off,anti-discrimination policies in the marketplace may need tobe complemented by measures aimed at reducing labor costsand raising productivity.