ABSTRACT
The sources of the gender pay gap can usefully be divided into two broad sets of causes directly related to gender: gender differences in qualifications and labor market discrimination against women. Based on the available evidence, my own view is that both of these factors play a role in producing a gender pay gap. And, changes in each dimension—that is, in the extent of gender differences in qualifications and in the extent of labor market discrimination—have played a role in the decrease in the gender pay gap we have observed over time. How women fare in the labor market may also be affected by broader economy-wide or labor market-wide forces, such as the relative demand for workers in various occupations and industries. While such factors can be quite important, I give them less emphasis here, given my primary focus on the role of labor market discrimination.
