The distinctive effects of earnings determinants across different job levels

Abstract

This study proposes a structural model of earnings by integrating the arguments of gender discrimination, human capital, and segmented labour markets, three of the most popular perspectives for explaining variations in income. Our analysis makes use of an effective sample of 5,005 employees in Taiwan. The results show that in low-level jobs, gender plays an important role in earnings determination; but that in higher-level jobs, human capital replaces gender as a good predictor of earnings. We therefore argue that job level is a critical determinant of earnings disparity, especially in interaction with differences in gender and human capital investment.

Keywords:

• Job level
• human capital
• gender discrimination
• earnings determinant
• Taiwan