Male-female wage gap and vertical occupational segregation: the role of motivation for work and eort

OECD countries at large are concerned with strong male-female disparities in the labour market, in particular: with a wage gap in favour of men; with a strong gender occupational segmentation. In this paper, we propose an employment relationship model within which agents exhibit self-esteem motives. These motives can impact their motivation for work and eort. We rely on this model to develop an explanation of observed disparities. Consistent with the empirical evidence, the model gives an account of a vertically segmented labour mar- ket, that is to say of an overrepresentation of men in better-paid jobs; an overrepresentation of women in poorly-paid jobs.