Gender gap in the desired wages: Evidence from large administrative data

2025/11/05 by Fukai, Taiyo, Kawata, Keisuke, Komura, Mizuki +1
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #FOS: Economics and business #Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics #General Economics (econ.GN) #Labor market dynamics and wage inequality #Work-Family Balance Challenges

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2511.03252

openalex publication_date 2025/11/05 · openalex created_date 2025/11/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

This study analyzes the gender gap in desired wages using large administrative data of public job referrals, which allows us to look at the desired salaries of individuals from a wider wage distribution. We conduct a decomposition analysis using available information on age, desired work region, and desired occupation. We find that of the three factors, desired occupation is the most important in generating differences in desired wages; however, the residuals are the largest outside of the three factors. To further probe the unexplained residuals, we also conduct heterogeneity and sensitivity analyses using the available data.

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