Women in the pipeline: A dynamic decomposition of firm pay gaps

This paper proposes a new decomposition method to understand how gender pay gaps arise within firms. The accounts for pipeline effects, non-stationary environments, and dynamic interactions between gap components. is applied data set covering all employees at the World Bank Group 1987 2015 shows that historical differences in positions which men women were hired account 77% of today’s average salary difference, dwarfing roles entry salaries, growth, or retention differences. Forward simulations show 20% total can be assigned effects would resolve mechanically with time.