Abstract
Gender differences in pay open mostly after the birth of the first child. The opening gap is accompanied by stark changes in the labour supply of women that, when cumulated over time, can explain between 30 and 60 percent of that gap. It is also accompanied by a marked change in the time women spend commuting to their jobs and the types of jobs they do. In this paper we investigate the role of preferences for short commutes and of local labour markets in shaping the choices and pay of women. We hypothesise that preferences for jobs in the close vicinity of home limits maternal pay and career progression in ways that depend on the opportunities available locally. Using longitudinal household data combined with geographical information and vacancy data, we show that women take jobs that are closer to home after becoming mothers, and that this move is associated with taking lower paid and lower skilled jobs and to the characteristics of labour markets. If skills are accumulated in work at rates that depend on the types of jobs one does, these choices will have long-lasting consequences for the careers of women. To quantify these effects, we develop and estimate a spacial job search model of occupational sorting allowing for human capital accumulation.
Invited by: Matthew Wakefield
Local Organizer: Margherita Fort