The Gender Earnings Gap Among the Less-Educated: The Effect of Occupational Characteristics

This research focuses on the role of occupational characteristics in the occupation-specific gender earnings gap for individuals whose highest level of education is less than a four-year college degree. Using data from the American Community Survey (ACS) and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (O*NET), I identify occupational characteristics that are associated with an increasing or decreasing gender earnings gap within occupations. I find the importance, necessity, and frequency of cooperatively working with other individuals within an occupation is associated with a decreasing gender earnings gap within occupations, whereas the amount of responsibility a worker has within an occupation is associated with an increasing gender earnings gap. I also find evidence of a relationship between the gender earnings gap and the price of temporal flexibility within occupations, with the price of flexibility increasing in the amount of time pressure a worker faces and the regularity of work schedules.