Penn State University, USA.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA.
Soc Sci Res. 2020 Nov;92:102479. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2020.102479. Epub 2020 Sep 28.
We examine the dynamics of the gender earnings gap over the 1979 to 2018 period among full-time workers aged 25-29, focusing on the role of marital status and the presence of children. Using data from multiple years of the Current Population Survey, we find that the earnings gap declined among all groups of men and women, and by 2018 there was earnings parity among the those who were not married and without children. The share of people in this group also grew over the period, and comprised a majority of both men and women by 2018. We also find that while marriage was associated with lower earnings among women in 1979, by 2018 it was associated with higher earnings, suggesting greater positive selection of women with high earnings potential into marriage. The positive association between marriage and earnings among men remained stable. While we found a persistent earnings penalty for having children among women over the period, we found an emerging dampening effect of having children over time among men, which suggests that greater participation in childcare among men has led to lower earnings than in the past (i.e., a causal connection) and/or an emerging selection effect of young men more interested in childrearing over time, perhaps reflecting a cultural shift.
我们考察了 1979 年至 2018 年间 25-29 岁全职员工的性别收入差距的动态变化，重点关注婚姻状况和子女状况的作用。利用多年来的“当前人口调查”（Current Population Survey）数据，我们发现所有男性和女性群体的收入差距都在缩小，到 2018 年，那些未婚且没有孩子的人的收入已经持平。在这一时期，这类人群的比例也有所增长，到 2018 年，他们已经占男性和女性的大多数。我们还发现，虽然在 1979 年，婚姻对女性的收入有负面影响，但到 2018 年，婚姻与更高的收入相关，这表明高收入潜力的女性更有可能积极选择进入婚姻。婚姻对男性收入的积极影响保持稳定。虽然我们发现女性在整个时期都面临着生育带来的持续收入惩罚，但我们发现男性的生育效应逐渐减弱，这表明男性在照顾孩子方面的参与度增加，导致收入比过去更低（即因果关系），或者年轻男性对育儿的兴趣逐渐增强，这可能反映了一种文化转变。
