Are there Gaps in Swedish Gender Wage Gap Research? A Meta-Analytical Approach

Abstract: The persistence of “unexplained” gender wage differentials has necessitated an expanding body of research attempting to explain their lasting continuity. This is true of research conducted on the Scandinavian country of Sweden, which is widely regarded for a social and institutional commitment to gender equality. This paper empirically probes the existing body of gender specific wage research asking: How can research findings on the gender wage gap in Sweden be assessed and brought into a dialogue on an empirical level? The paper addresses this question by employing a meta-analytical framework using data extracted from studies which present a regression based estimation of the national gender wage gap in Sweden. This allows for an empirical analysis of how research parameters, the presence of specific variables and possible biases may be reflected in national gender wage gap estimates as well as illustrating whether research generally promotes the idea of a falling wage gap. The constructed dataset includes thirty two wage gap observations derived from studies conducted on national data from 1968 to 2013, with the inclusion of moderator variables indicative of research specifications. Empirical analysis suggests that controlling for occupational composition as well as work type, the type of wage gap decomposition, and the presence of limiting proxies all have strong effects in shaping Swedish wage gap estimates.