The role of gender in job promotions

Monthly Labor Review

Volumn 122, Issue 12, 1999, Pages 32-38

  Cobb Clark, Deborah A ^a   Dunlop, Yvonne ^b  

^a AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0041160737     PISSN: 00981818     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (16)

1. Howard Birnbaum, "Career Origins, On-the-Job Training, and Earnings," Southern Economic Journal, April 1976, pp. 587-99, argues that "differential skill, training, and promotional opportunities in individuals' early careers can lead to permanent earnings differentials" (p. 589).
2. See William T. Bielby and James N. Baron, "Men and Women at Work: Sex Segregation and Statistical Discrimination," American Journal of Sociology, January 1986, pp. 759-99, for a discussion of the critical role of job segregation in generating gender differences in labor market outcomes.
3. See Stephan J. Spurr, "Sex Discrimination in the Legal Profession: A Study of Promotions," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, April 1990, pp. 406-17; Joni Hersch and W. Kip Viscusi, "Gender Differences in Promotions and Wages," Industrial Relations, October 1996, pp. 461-72; and Kristin McCue, "Promotions and Wage Growth," Journal of Labor Economics, April 1996, pp. 175-209, for recent reviews of the empirical literature on the relationship between gender and promotions.
4. See Stephan J. Spurr, "Sex Discrimination in the Legal Profession: A Study of Promotions," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, April 1990, pp. 406-17; Joni Hersch and W. Kip Viscusi, "Gender Differences in Promotions and Wages," Industrial Relations, October 1996, pp. 461-72; and Kristin McCue, "Promotions and Wage Growth," Journal of Labor Economics, April 1996, pp. 175-209, for recent reviews of the empirical literature on the relationship between gender and promotions.
5. See Stephan J. Spurr, "Sex Discrimination in the Legal Profession: A Study of Promotions," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, April 1990, pp. 406-17; Joni Hersch and W. Kip Viscusi, "Gender Differences in Promotions and Wages," Industrial Relations, October 1996, pp. 461-72; and Kristin McCue, "Promotions and Wage Growth," Journal of Labor Economics, April 1996, pp. 175-209, for recent reviews of the empirical literature on the relationship between gender and promotions.
6. In 1989 and 1990, NLSY respondents were asked, "Since the date of the last interview have you experienced any promotions?" Thus, respondents were interviewed about promotions over a 1-year period. In 1994, however, NLSY respondents began to be interviewed biennially. The 1996 questions on promotion referred to a 2-year period. In this article, promotion rates for the 1989-90 period have been converted to 2-year rates. In both 1990 and 1996, there were some persons for whom the time between interviews was longer than 2 years because they were not interviewed in the previous year. However, the distributions of the times between interviews for the two sets of years are similar.
7. In this article, sampling weights are used to account for the sampling design and attrition.
8. Employment growth in each industry and occupation was calculated as the logarithm of the change in current employment from the average employment in the previous 2 years.
9. There is little evidence on the role of macroeconomic conditions in the promotion process. James E. Rosenbaum, "Organizational Career Mobility: Promotion Chances in a Corporation during Periods of Growth and Contraction," American Journal of Sociology, July 1979, pp. 21-48, is one of the few researchers who address this issue. He concludes that promotion rates are higher in periods of greater company growth. Rosenbaum considers only men, however, so it is not possible to say whether the same is true for women.
10. Robert Topel and Michael Ward, "Job Mobility and the Careers of Young Men," Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1992, pp. 439-79, find that job mobility is an important source of wage growth for young men. However, Pamela J. Lopest, "Gender Differences in Wage Growth and Job Mobility," American Economic Review, May 1992, pp. 526-32, finds that women have less than 50 percent of the wage growth of young men when changing jobs.
11. Robert Topel and Michael Ward, "Job Mobility and the Careers of Young Men," Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1992, pp. 439-79, find that job mobility is an important source of wage growth for young men. However, Pamela J. Lopest, "Gender Differences in Wage Growth and Job Mobility," American Economic Review, May 1992, pp. 526-32, finds that women have less than 50 percent of the wage growth of young men when changing jobs.
12. Many studies conclude that the probability of promotion is lower for women than for men. (See, for example, Spurr, "Sex Discrimination"; and Elizabeth A. Pauline and Jennifer M. Mellor, "Gender, Race, and Promotions within a Private Sector Firm," Industrial Relations, April 1996, pp. 276-95.
13. This finding is by no means universal, however: the results of some studies indicate that gender has no significant effect on promotion (see, for example, David R. Jones and Gerald H. Makepeace, "Equal Worth, Equal Opportunities: Pay and Promotion in an Internal Labor Market," Economic Journal, March 1996, pp. 401-9), while others conclude that women are significantly more likely than men to be promoted (Hersch and Viscusi, "Gender Differences in Promotions and Wages").
14. This apparent lack of opportunity for promotion experienced by highly educated women may be explained in part by gender differences in the occupations of highly educated workers. About 70 percent of highly educated women were employed in professional, technical, and kindred occupations, whereas approximately 60 percent of highly educated men were in those occupations. McCue, "Promotions and Wage Growth," notes that education is often not found to be significantly related to promotions, but when the effects are significant, they are positive.
15. This finding is in accord with McCue, "Promotions and Wage Growth," who notes that the one result consistently found in studies of the characteristics related to promotion is that promotion rates tend to fall with experience or age.
16. In the 1996 NLSY, 1980 Census Bureau industry codes were not provided for a large number of cases. Thus, industry employment growth could not be computed from CPS data, which also use 1980 Census Bureau codes. For evidence suggesting that promotion rates are higher during periods when the organization is growing, see Rosenbaum, "Organizational Career Mobility."