Young or Experienced Female Workers: Who Faces More Gender Wage Discrimination in Pakistan?

Abstract

The objective of the study was to investigate gender earning gap at the different stages of career in Urban, Rural and Overall Pakistan. By using Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973) methodology, study found that age, marital status, employment status andeducation has significant impact on the earnings. Decomposition results suggest that age has greater impact on earnings for experienced earners in urban labor market and young earners in rural labor market. Marriage has higher impact on the earnings in the urban and rural labor market for young earners. The young female workers face more discrimination in wages in urban, rural and overall Pakistan. Moreover, among young female earners, relatively higher discrimination is faced by those who work in urban areas than those in who work in rural areas. Whereas, experienced female earners face more discrimination in the rural areas. Strong measures by the government are required to reduce discrimination against women in urban, rural and overall Pakistan to make labor market more inclusive.