Closing the Gender Pay Gap in the US Federal Service: The Role of New Managers

Date: Friday, Jan. 27
Time: 3-4:30pm
Location: Arts 101

About this event

Now a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia, former USask Economics graduate student Mila Markevych will be discussing her co-authored paper, Closing the Gender Pay Gap in the US Federal Service: The Role of New Managers. 

This paper estimates the effects of managerial turnover on the unexplained gender pay gap in the US Federal civil service from 1982-2014 by exploiting the appointment of new managers in an event study design. We find that new female managers reduced the unexplained gender pay gap by approximately 1-2 log points in the years following their arrival. The effect is almost twice as large when one includes the overall impact of managerial turnover.

The main homophily channel operates through increases in pay grades: female employees receive almost 50% more pay grade increases following the appointment of a new female manager. We also find that female managers have the greatest effect in federal agencies with a critical mass of women in management positions and when their appointment increases the duty station’s female management share. These findings are echoed in female employees’ responses to the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. We conclude that even highly regimented pay systems are not immune to discretionary managerial actions, which may impact the gender pay gap.

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