Gender Wage Gap in Hospitality

Abstract

This article analyzes the gender wage gap in the hospitality sector. First, it explores whether the gender wage gap is partly explained by the economic sector. Second, it measures how this gap changes across the wage distribution using quantile regression. Third, it decomposes the gender wage gap in the hospitality sector to distinguish which part can be explained by observed attributes and which part is explained by other factors (unobserved characteristics or gender discrimination). Methodologically, this article introduces the use of quantile regression to the analysis of the gender wage gap and its decomposition in the hospitality sector. The main findings are as follows. First, on average in the hospitality sector, wages (without taking into account worker skills) are below the overall average wages. However, if a deeper look is taken, this research reveals that unskilled workers are better paid in hospitality than in most of the other sectors. The opposite is true for skilled workers, since mid- and high-wage workers in the hospitality sector receive wages below their counterparts in other sectors. Second, the gender wage gap is particularly low in the hospitality sector and the gap changes across the wage distribution. Third, a large part of the gender wage gap in hospitality is not explained by worker or company characteristics. The segregation of women into worse-paid jobs and gender discrimination (or unobserved characteristics) seem to be the main sources of the gender wage gap.