Do technological advances reduce the gender wage gap?

Abstract

Gender wage gaps in developed economies have narrowed substantially in past decades: these changes are driven by institutional, cultural, and economic factors. A key economic driver shaping modern labour markets is technological change, yet there is a paucity of evidence on its direct impact on gender wage disparities. We study this question by considering how men and women are differentially exposed to the structural employment and wage changes across occupations associated with advancing technology, and how this has impacted gender wage gaps since the mid-1980s for two countries, Portugal and the United States. Our findings suggest that while women have generally been less exposed to the automation of work, this has not always led to declining gender wage gaps: at times, women have transitioned to jobs where wage levels or wage growth were lower. Non-technological changes appear at least as important in understanding the evolution of the gender wage gap.