Volume 28, Number 2 (Spring) 1993
Barron, John M., Dan A. Black, and Mark A. Loewenstein. 1993. "Gender Differences in Training, Capital, and Wages." Journal of Human Resources 28(2):343-364.
This paper constructs an equilibrium job-matching model where workers differ in their attachment to the labor force. The model predicts that workers with weaker attachment to the labor market will receive lower starting wages and lower post-training wages, and will be placed in jobs that offer less training and use less capital. The implications of the model for gender differences in pay and job assignment are tested with the EOPP data set. Our findings suggest that while training intensity during the first three months of employment is similar in positions filled by males and females, females are employed in positions that have a shorter duration of on-the-job training and that use less capital. These differences in on-the-job training and capital in positions filled by men and women, as well as lower market value for women's prior labor market experience, account for a substantial part of the gap in wages between males and females.
John M. Barron is a professor of economics at Purdue University, Dan A. Black is a professor of economics at the University of Kentucky, and mark A. Loewenstein is a researcher in the Office of Economic Research, Bureau of Labor Statistics, respectively. Barron and Loewenstein gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Science Foundation under grant #8408903. Black gratefully acknowledges financial support from National Science Foundation under grant #RII-8610671 and the Commonwealth of Kentucky through the EPSCoR Program. All authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor. We thank Paula England, Jacob Mincer, Jeff Smith, seminar participants at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, University of Kentucky, and Western Economic Association, three anonymous reviewers, and Joe Hotz for comments on earlier drafts. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning December 1993 through December 1996 from the author at the flowing address: John M. Barron, Department of Economics, Krannert Graduate School of Management, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1310.
© 2002 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
US ISSN 0022-166X