Abstract

GARBAY FLORES, Sergio  and  BARRERA SARDAN, Raquel. Women on Sticky Floors? An Evolution Analysis of Labor Income Distributions for the Period 2011-2019 in Bolivia. rlde [online]. 2021, n.36, pp.123-168. ISSN 2074-4706.

Despite women’s advances in the labor sphere, the labor income gaps between men and women still persist. The closure of these is desirable in order to guarantee gender equality in the labor market. Based on this recognition, this document analyzes the labor income gap between men and women along the income distribution in three periods (2011-2013, 2014-2016 and 2017-2019) which allows an analysis of the evolution of mean income labor gaps for these periods in urban areas of Bolivia, with the aim to study the existence of sticky floors and/or glass ceilings circumstances.

Using data from household surveys, a conditional quantile regressions methodology is applied, enabling a counterfactual income distributions estimation, and correction for sample selection for women is also applied. The results reveal a positive mean gap in the three periods, with the lowest in the last period, and the presence of heterogeneity along the distribution showing that the labor income gap is larger in the bottom of the distribution which suggests the presence of the sticky floors effect.

These gaps are explained mainly by differences in rewards for observable characteristics between men and women. Finally, sample selection is positive, explained especially by differences for unobservable characteristics between women, which is more evident at the bottom of the distribution; this suggests that the income labor gap between men and women is being underestimated.

Keywords : Labor income gender gap; women; labor market; quantile regressions; sample selection; sticky floors; Bolivia.

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