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The paper studies the effects of the prevalence and high returns to working long hours on female labor market outcomes, particularly for highly educated women. The researchers' empirical strategy uses cross-country data from 18 developed countries and exploits time-series and cross-industry variation. The results suggest that an increase in the prevalence of overwork in an industry (defined as working 50+ hours a week) reduces the share of married educated women aged 23 to 42 working in that industry, even after controlling for the industry distribution of single women of the same age. Consistent with Goldin (2014) and Cha and Weeden (2014), the researchers find that industries with high returns to working long hours have wider gender pay gaps, but only in countries where overwork is prevalent. Their findings suggest that the relationship between measured returns to overwork and gender pay gaps is at least partially driven by the higher cost to women of providing long hours and is not driven exclusively by gender differences in other skills that are also valued in those industries.

Research Gaps

• Our study highlights the need for a better understanding of the determinants of both the prevalence and the returns to working very long hours in order to design policies that address their negative effects on female labor market outcomes. We hope to tackle this important question in future work. (page 17)

Citation

Cortés, P., Pan, J. (2015). Understanding the Prevalence and Returns to Working Long Hours and the Gender Pay Gap: Evidence Across Countries. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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This study was part of the Department of Labor Scholars Program, and was produced outside of CEO’s standard research development process.