Gender wage differentials in Spain: a distributional approach by subpopulations

In this paper we analyze changes in gender wage differentials in Spain between 1995 and 2002, with special attention to the distribution of labor and socioeconomic characteristics across female workers. A decline was observed in the differential, mainly driven by an increasing percentage of women holding a college degree. However, there is a persistent, if not increasing, wage gap which cannot be explained by observed productivity characteristics ( discrimination component), this being especially important among high paid women without college degree. This fact contributed to reinforce the well known "glass ceilings" phenomenon among these females. On the contrary, discrimination appeared to decline among women holding a university degree, as well as among low paid female workers, mitigating the "sticky floors" problem in this last case.