ifo DICE Report 2/2017 (Summer): The Gender Pay Gap

Section: Forum – The Gender Pay Gap

Women still earn lower wages than men, on average. The so-called gender pay gap measures the difference between the median full-time earnings of men and women relative to median full-time earnings of men. In recent years this gap has closed in many countries, and government legislation aims to reduce it even further in the future. Yet there is an ongoing debate over the roots of persistent earnings differentials between men and women and, in turn, over the adequate policy response. The Forum articles in ifo DICE Report 2/2017 contribute to this discussion by analysing gender differences in labour market outcomes, both from a theoretical as well as an empirical point of view, and by proposing policy measures to effectively address the gender pay gap.