Gender Gap in Earnings in China: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

The privatization of the Chinese economy and the mobility of the labour force from rural areas to urban areas are increasing the pressure of gender wage inequality in China. This paper analyses the gender wage gap based on microdata from the Chinese General Social Survey conducted in 2015. The methodologies employed in this paper include the Mincer earnings function (1974) and the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition (1973). The empirical results reveal that the gender wage gap was over 20% in China in 2014. Education has a significantly positive influence on wages, but the rate of return of education on wages differs for male and female groups. The effects of education on wages in various regions in China are different. Education contributes to narrowing the difference in wages between female and male workers in West China.