Labour economics provide a thorough understanding of labour market dynamics viz. the functioning and dynamics of the markets for wage labour. Among the four factors of production i.e., land, labour, capital and entrepreneur, efficient labour is one of the main factors having a great bearing upon the production level. Labour gets wages for his services or labour is something which is supplied by labourers, usually in exchange for a wage offered by demanding firms. Since, these labourers provide market information, Labour market must take into account all such information and market Asymmetry related issues for informed policy-making. It must incorporate and utilize various labour market measures modelling quite well how women and men work and fit in labour markets.
It is very important to acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of the available labour statistics and highlight some important developments in the economic and statistical world that (especially pertaining
to women) will improve measures to labour market outcomes to some degree, thereby allowing us to better capture the core contemporary labour market issues especially concept of labour underutilization and the composition therein.
Empirical research studies involving labour market concludes that it is women who are generally disadvantaged in labour market. Even in the same occupation, there are high signs of gender inequality. Hence, new labour economics model must develop new parameters or measures that will fine-tune the ability to showcase that women are generally disadvantaged with series of exclusions and deprivations at both home and work environment. Female disadvantages are proven from time to time and most of the research findings on gender gap endorse them.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decided to award the 2023 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Claudia Goldin for giving modern touch to labour market outcomes and role of women in labour market. World applauded her for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes. She opened the vistas of labour economics and accordinly won Nobel Prize in economics for her outstanding work on women in the labor market: income and employment. Her distinguished work uncovered key drivers of gender differences in the labor market. She examined US data of more than 200 years and concluded that it is through differences in education and occupation that much of the gender pay disparity could historically be examined. That is to say that she gave historical interpretation of gender gap. However, Goldin’s research findings point to the fact that majority of this difference in earnings now between men and women does not come from different occupation but from the same occupation.
She is of the opinion that the institution of marriage itself prevented married women from continuing their job as academicians or office workers. Even though we find the demand for labour increasing at an increasing rate, married women are mostly treated as outsiders in labour market and excluded from most parts of the labour market. But, marriage is not the sole factor responsible for high gender gap in employment or slow dip in such a gap. Goldin also showcased that there was another important factor in the slow fall of the gap between men’s and women’s employment rates in the form of expectations of women for their future careers. Moreover, this gap by and large arises the moment first child enters the family. Actually, once the first child arrives, the trend changes and soon the earnings fall and do not keep pace with men’s earnings.
That is to say that earnings do not increase at the same rate for women who have a child as they do for men despite having same level of education and profession. It is therefore very important to enquire into the nature and causes of gender gap in labour market and understand women’s role in the labor market. Claudia Goldin’s groundbreaking research work has opened doors for future research about the underlying factors of gender gap between men and women in different as well as same occupation and which stumbling blocks may need to be addressed in the future.
Dr. Binish Qadri, Assistant professor, Cluster University Srinagar