Differing Characteristics or Differing Rewards: What is Behind the Gender Wage Gap in Croatia?

This paper aims at estimating the size of, changes in, and main factors contributing to gender-based wage differentials in Croatia. It utilises microdata from the Labour Force Survey in 1998 and 2005, and applies both OLS and quantile regression techniques to assess the gender wage gap across the wage distribution. The gender wage gap is found to be relatively mild at the lower part of the wage distribution and is getting larger as one moves towards the top of the distribution. The paper argues that employed women in Croatia possess higher-quality labour market characteristics, especially levels of education, but receive much lower rewards for these characteristics. Some evidence of a glass-ceiling effect and occupational segregation are found. The impact of having children on the wage prospects of women is also considered. The paper finds that at the top of the wage distribution in the private sector mothers earn lower wages than women without children.