Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Title: Does Pay Transparency Affect the Gender Wage Gap? Evidence From Austria
Author-Name: Andreas Gulyas
Author-Email: andreas.gulyas@uni-mannheim.de
Author-Name: Sebastian Seitz
Author-Email: sseitz@mail.uni-mannheim.de
Author-Name: Sourav Sinha
Author-Email: sourav.sinha@yale.edu


Classification-JEL: J08, J31, J38, J78
Keywords: Pay Transparency, Gender Wage Gap

Abstract: We study the 2011 Austrian Pay Transparency Law, which requires firms above a size threshold to publish reports on the gender pay gap. We exploit variation across firm size and time, to study the effects of transparency on the gender wage gap and individual wages, using the universe of Austrian social security records. Our results show that the policy had no discernible effects on male and female wages, and therefore no significant effects on the gender wage gap. The effects are precisely estimated and we can rule out that the policy narrowed the gender wage gap by more than half a percentage point. We find no evidence for wage compression at the establishment level. The policy led to an increase in the retention rate of workers, which points towards higher job satisfaction due to pay transparency. 

Note: 
Length: 42
Creation-Date: 2020-07
Revision-Date: 
File-URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp194
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:CRCTR224_2020_194v1