Is My Wage Fair? : Validating Fairness Perceptions among Women and Men

Abstract

The authors examine gender differences in perceptions of the fairness of one’s own pay. This work differs from previous studies, as the authors not only assess whether women are as likely as men to perceive their pay as unfair at the same absolute wage levels. Instead, they use an innovative methodology based on linked employer-employee data. This makes it possible to compare subjective perceptions of (un)fair pay with the predicted pay of comparable others with the same individual-, work-, occupation-, and firm-related characteristics. The authors use the measurement of how closely a person’s pay aligns with the predicted pay of comparable others as a strictly empirical indicator of whether someone’s pay is fair. Overall, women are as likely as men to perceive a fair wage as unfair or an unfair wage as fair. Although the data at hand do not make it possible to explore the causes of this, or to assess whether women and men used to differ more in their perceptions of fairness, the authors speculate that women today may be more aware of the societal debate about gender-based wage discrimination, and their perceptions of appropriate compensation may be less influenced by gendered comparison groups and gender status beliefs than previous research has suggested.