Exploring Gender Wage “Discrimination” in South Africa, 1995-2004: A Quantile Regression Approach

This paper uses quantile regression and counterfactual decomposition methods to investigate whether a ‘glass ceiling’ exists or if instead a ‘sticky floor’ is more prevalent among the African populace in the South African ‘formal’ labour market. Furthermore, it assesses whether the incidence of gender wage ‘discrimination’ has been widening or narrowing across the entire wage distribution from 1995-2004. Given that it is almost ten years after the abolition of legalised discrimination and the introduction of affirmative action legislation, one would have expected that the gaps between male and female wages in general and in particular, the component of these gaps attributable to different returns to characteristics ‘discrimination’ might have decreased. Surprisingly, the results of this study suggest that the gaps increased between 1995 and 2004. In addition, there is evidence of a sticky floor in the South African labour market.