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- Title
INEQUALITY IN THE LIFETIME EARNINGS OF WOMEN.
- Authors
Cox, Donald
- Abstract
The article reports some findings concerning inequality in lifetime earnings of women, using a new longitudinal data set created from Social Security records. The main finding is that lifetime earnings tend to be more equally distributed compared to cross-section earnings among women who work continuously and that this tendency is less so for women with interrupted careers. To illustrate the difference between cross-sectional and lifetime earnings inequality and how lifetime earnings inequality might vary with continuity in labor force participation, a simple linear earning function is presented. There is some evidence that the variation in lifetime earnings of continuous female workers is lower than that of the cross-section. This evidence casts doubt on the relevance of cross-sectional dispersion as a measure of disparity in economic welfare. The tendency for individuals to be compensated for lower earnings by higher earnings later in life appears to be stronger for continuous workers than for discontinuous workers.
- Subjects
WOMEN; WAGES; WOMEN employees; INCOME inequality; SOCIAL security; EMPLOYEE training; LINEAR statistical models; LABOR supply; PRODUCTIVE life span; QUALITY of work life
- Publication
Review of Economics & Statistics, 1982, Vol 64, Issue 3, p501
- ISSN
0034-6535
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/1925950