Gender and the Labour Market: An International Perspective and the case of Italy

This paper provides an overview of the literature on international di¤erences in the gender wage gap. It then focuses on the Italian case and analyzes di¤erentials in gender wage and employment gaps across regions. The cross-regional variation reproduces the negative correlation between wage and employment gaps observed at the cross-country level. Using the methodology in Olivetti and Petrongolo (2008) the paper shows the importance of sample selection induced by non-employment in explaining the cross-regional variation. The results show that selection-adjusted wage gaps are higher than actual wage gaps in most cases. However, this di¤erence is small in the northern Italian regions and becomes sizeable for central and southern regions. Selection correction can explain from 10% to most of the observed negative cross-regional correlation between wage and employment gaps across genders in Italy. Section 4 in the paper is based on Olivetti and Petrongolo (2008). Email address for correspondence: [email protected].