Abstract

Does flexible pay increase the gender wage gap? To answer this question, we analyze the wages of public school teachers in Wisconsin, where a 2011 reform allowed school districts to set teachers’ pay more flexibly and engage in individual negotiations. Using quasi-exogenous variation in the timing of the introduction of flexible pay, driven by the expiration of preexisting collective-bargaining agreements, we show that flexible pay lowered the salaries of women compared with men with the same credentials. This gap is larger for younger teachers and smaller for teachers working under a female principal or superintendent. Survey evidence suggests that the gap is partly driven by women engaging less frequently in negotiations over pay, especially when the counterpart is a man. The gap is unlikely to be driven by observable gender differences in job mobility or teacher ability, although the threat of moving and a high demand for male teachers could exacerbate it. Our results suggest that pay discretion and wage bargaining are important determinants of the gender wage gap and that institutions, such as unions, might help narrow this gap.

中文翻译：

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弹性工资、谈判和性别差距*

摘要

弹性薪酬是否会增加性别工资差距？为了回答这个问题，我们分析了威斯康星州公立学校教师的工资，2011 年的改革允许学区更灵活地设定教师工资并参与个人谈判。在现有的集体谈判协议到期的驱动下，我们利用引入灵活薪酬时间的准外生变化，表明与具有相同资历的男性相比，灵活薪酬降低了女性的工资。对于年轻教师来说，这一差距更大，而在女校长或女校长手下工作的教师则更小。调查证据表明，造成这种差距的部分原因是女性参与薪酬谈判的频率较低，尤其是当对方是男性时。这种差距不太可能是由工作流动性或教师能力方面明显的性别差异造成的，尽管流动的威胁和对男教师的高需求可能会加剧这种差异。我们的研究结果表明，薪酬自由裁量权和工资谈判是性别工资差距的重要决定因素，工会等机构可能有助于缩小这一差距。