Gender Pay Gap in the Western Balkan Countries: evidence from Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia

Avlijaš, Sonja and Ivanović, Nevena and Vladisavljević, Marko and Vujić, Sunčica (2013) Gender Pay Gap in the Western Balkan Countries: evidence from Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. FREN - Foundation for the Advancement of Economics, Beograd. ISBN 978-86-916185-1-3

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Abstract

This book sought to contribute to the understanding of gender wage disparities in three Western Balkan countries: Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro. We use the most extensive data set available to analyse the gender pay gap in the Western Balkans, which covers seven waves of the Labour Force Survey (2008-2011) across the three countries. The simple difference in the average female vs. male wage, i.e. the so-called raw (unadjusted) wage gap, amounts to only 3.3%, 13.4% and 16.0% in Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro respectively. The estimated gap is lower than the one observed on average in the EU of 16,2%. However, the two genders in all three countries differ significantly according to characteristics and skill levels of women and men who work, i.e. an average employed woman is not identical to an average employed man by level of education, work experience, occupation, industry sector, etc. When gender differences in labour market characteristics are taken into account, the gap widens in Serbia and Macedonia, to 11% and 17.9%, while it stays at the same level in Montenegro. Therefore, unlike the trends we observe in Western economies, where working women on average have worse educational attainment, work experience and job related characteristics than men, the differences in labour market characteristics between men and women cannot explain the gender wage gap in the Western Balkans. The book further explores the trends of gender pay gap during the years of economic crisis, differences in the gaps between the public and private sectors, as well as the gaps at different parts of the wage distribution.

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