Period Effects, Cohort Replacement and the Narrowing Gender Wage Gap

Jessica Pearlman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Colin Campbell, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Despite the abundance of sociological research on the gender wage gap, questions remain. In particular, the role of cohorts in narrowing the gender wage gap is under investigated. Using data from the Current Population Survey, we use Age-Period-Cohort analysis to uniquely estimate age, period, and cohort effects on the gender wage gap. We find that period effects have had a minimal impact on the gender wage gap, and that the narrowing of the gender wage gap that occurred between 1975 and 2009 is largely due to cohort replacement. Since the mid 1990s the gender wage gap has continued to close, absent of period effects. However, because of increasing cohort parity, period effects will likely be needed if the gender wage gap is to continue to close.