Research paper on social pay gap across occupations by CGG member Dr. Elisabeth Bublitz discussed in the press

17 August 2018, by CGG

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Bublitz, Elisabeth/Regner, Tobias

Another research paper by CGG member Dr. Elisabeth Bublitz (together with Dr. phil. Tobias Regner) on the social pay gap across occupations that was published in 2016 is currently discussed in the press.

See here for the article in the HuffPost “Deutschland: Menschen in sozialen Berufen werden zu Arbeitern zweiter Klasse“ [Article in German only].

The social pay gap across occupations: Survey and experimental evidence

Receiving equal wages for work of equal value is a legal right in many countries. However, it remains unknown to what degree the neglect of this principle yields differences in pay between social and other occupations. The results of a task-based analysis with survey data confirm a notable wage penalty of 0.5 standard deviations for social occupations (e.g., health care, education). Based on these results, we design a laboratory experiment that mimics actual income distributions (Germany, USA), incorporates social occupations in the lab society, and allows for (voluntary) redistribution among subjects. The results show that, regardless of (non-)random assignment to social jobs and the level of income inequality, individuals in social jobs are only partly compensated for their social effort. A downward spiral, induced by emotional reactions, results as social effort and donations converge to a ‘low’ equilibrium. This suggests that a market approach fails to eliminate the social pay gap.

Bublitz, Elisabeth; Regner, Tobias (2016). The social pay gap across occupations: Survey and experimental evidence. HWWI Research Paper, No. 174, April 2016. Hamburg Institute of International Economics.

For the full version of the paper, please click here.