Occupational sex composition and wages in the Faroe Islands

Abstract: This study explores the relationship between wages, gender and occupational sex composition. The study is based on censored 2011 census data on the employed labour force in ages 25-69 in the Faroe Islands; a small Nordic country. The aim of this study is to contribute to the consisting overall knowledge of the relationship, as well as to the specific Faroese context and its lacking labour market studies. The analysis is divided in to two parts. Firstly, multiple regression analysis is applied to the whole labour market examining: 1) if a gender wage gap is present, and 2) the shape of the relationship between wages and occupational sex composition. Secondly, similar multiple regression analyses are applied to the genders separately to examine: 3) to what extent the associations between wage, sectors and occupational sex composition vary by gender. This is done in the overall labour force as well as in part-time only. Main findings demonstrate that some of the overall associations are consistent with previous findings in other contexts, such as the presence of the gender wage gap, and for women, wages have a partially decreasing correlation with an increasing proportion of women.  However, unlike previous findings, the male wages are highest in the least sex-integrated compositions and they have no association with sector. Sub analyses show that for women, public sector has a positive association with wages, especially for part-time workers where it also is positive for men. The paper concludes on a small discussion on future research and contextual factors.