Glass Ceiling or Slippery Floors? Understanding Gender Differences in the Spanish Worker’s Compensation System

Authors

  • Alfonso Moral de Blas Departamento Fundamentos de Teoría Económica, Universidad de Valladolid, España. E-mail: amoral@eco.uva.es
  • Helena Corrales-Herrero Departamento Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Valladolid, España. E-mail: helena@eaee.uva.es
  • Angel Martín-Román Departamento Fundamentos de Teoría Económica, Universidad de Valladolid, España. E-mail: angellm@eco.uva.es

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25115/eea.v30i1.3390

Keywords:

Moral Hazard, Opportunistic Behaviour, Worker’s Compensation, Glass Ceiling.

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to analyse gender differences in the Spanish workplace accident insurance or worker’s compensation (WC) system. More specifically, we are interested in understanding the differences  between  female and male employees in the duration of the recovery spell after a workplace accident. This will provide us with a better comprehension of the distinct opportunistic behaviour carried by men and women causing absenteeism. Our results show that women who are occupied in low-responsibility jobs experience unjustified longer periods of recovery than men. But, as the occupational ladder is climbed this pattern tends to disappear and, what is more striking, on top of the ladder women are found to be more job-committed than men. Besides, business cycle seems to have a greater effect on women than men.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

ALLEN, S. G. (1981a): “An empirical model of work attendance”, en Review of Economics and Statistics, 63, pp. 77-87.

ALLEN, S. G. (1981b): “Compensation, safety and absenteeism: evidence from the paper industry”, en Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 34, pp. 207- 218.

AMUEDO-DORANTES, C. (2002): “Work safety in the context of temporary employment: the Spanish experience” en Industrial and Labour Relations Review, 55(2), pp. 262-285.

BARMBY, T. and TREBLE J. (1991): “Absenteeism in a medium-sized manufacturing plant” en Applied Economics, 23, pp. 161-166.

BARMBY, T.; ORME, C. and TREBLE, J.G. (1991): “Worker absenteeism: an analysis using micro data”, en Economic Journal, 101, pp. 214-229.

BARMBY, T.; ERCOLANI, M. and TREBLE, J. (2002): “Sickness absence: an international comparison”, en Economic Journal, 112, pp. 315-331.

BLAU, F.D. and DeVARO, J. (2007): “New evidence on gender differences in promotion rates: an empirical analysis of a sample of new hires”, en Industrial Relations, 46(3), pp. 511-550.

BLINDER, A.S. (1973): “Wage discrimination: reduced form and structural estimates”, en Journal of Human Resource, 8, pp.436-455.

BOLDUC, D.; FORTIN, B.; LABRECQUE, F. and LANOIE, P. (2002): “Workers’ compensation, moral hazard and the composition of workplace injuries”, en Journal of Human Resource, 37(3), pp. 623-652.

BOOTH, A.L.; FRANCESCONI, M. and FRANK, J. (2003): “A sticky floors model of promotion, pay and gender”, en European Economic Review, 47(2), pp. 295-322.

BRIDGES, S. and MUMFORD, K. (2001): “Absenteeism in the UK: a comparison across genders”, en Manchester School, 69(3), pp. 276-284.

BROWN, S. (1994): “Dynamic implications of absence behaviour”, en Applied Economics, 26, pp. 1163-1175.

BROWN, S. and SESSIONS, J.G. (1996): “The economics of absence: theory and evidence”, en Journal of Economic Surveys, 10(1), pp. 23-53.

BUTLER, R.J.; BALDWIN, M.L. and JOHNSON, W.G. (2001): “The effects of worker heterogeneity on duration dependence: low-back claims in workers compensation”, en Review of Economics and Statistics, 83(4), pp. 708-716.

CAMPOLIETI, M. (2001): “Recurrence in workers’ compensation claims: estimates from a multiple sell hazard model”, en Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 23(1), pp. 75-94.

CAMPOLIETI, M. and HYATT, D.E. (2006): “Further evidence on the ‘Monday effect’ in workers’ compensation”, en Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 59(3), pp. 438-50.

CAMPOLIETI, M.; GOLDENBERG, J. and HYATT, D.E. (2008): “Workplace violence and the duration of workers’ compensation claims”, en Relations Industrielles, 63(1), pp. 57-81.

COMISIONES OBRERAS (2004) Aproximación a los costes de la siniestralidad laboral en España, Informe de la Secretaria Confederal de Medio Ambiente y Salud Laboral.

CHAUDHURY, M. and Ng, I. (1992): “Absenteeism predictors: least squares, rank regression, and model selection results”, en Canadian Journal of Economics, 25, pp. 615-634.

CHEADLE, A.; FRANKLIN, G. and WOLFHAGEN, C. (1994): “Factors influencing the duration of work-related disability: a population-based study of Washington state workers’ compensation”, en American Journal of Public Health, 84(2), pp. 190-196.

CORRALES, H.; MARTÍN-ROMÁN, A. and MORAL DE BLAS, A. (2008): “La duración de las bajas por accidente laboral en España: ¿Se justifican las diferencias entre comunidades autónomas?”, en Revista de Economía Laboral, 5(1), pp. 73-98.

COX, D. R. (1972): “Regression models and life tables”, en Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 34 pp. 187-202.

CROSON, R. and GNEEZY, U. (2009): “Gender differences in preferences”, en Journal of Economic Literature, 47(8), pp. 1-27.

DRAGO, R. and WOODEN, M. (1992): “The determinants of labor absence: economic factors and workgroup norms across countries”, en Industrial and Labour Relations Review, 45, pp. 764-778.

ENGELLAND, A. and RIPHAHN, R.T. (2005): “Temporary contracts and employee effort”, en Labour Economics, 12, pp. 281-299.

EVEN, W.E. and MACPHERSON, D.A. (1990): “Plant size and the decline of unionism”, en Economics Letters, 32 pp. 393-398.

FAIRLIE, R.W. (1999): “The absence of the African-American owned business: an analysis of the dynamics of self-employment”, en Journal of Labour Economics, 17, pp. 80-108.

FAIRLIE, R.W. (2005): “An extension of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition technique to logit and probit models, en Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, 30(4), pp. 305-316.

FORTIN, B. and LANOIE, P. (2001): “Incentive effects of workers' compensation: a survey”. En Dionne, G. (ed.): Handbook of Insurance, Springer.

GAMERO-BURÓN, C. (2010): “Evaluación del coste por pérdida de jornadas laborales asociado al estrés laboral: propuesta para España”, en Estudios de Economía Aplicada, 28 (3), pp. 1-20.

GARCÍA MAINAR, I. and MONTUENGA GÓMEZ, V. (2009): “Causas de los accidentes de trabajo en España: análisis longitudinal con datos de panel”, en Gaceta Sanitaria, 23(3), pp. 174-178.

GARCÍA-SERRANO, C; HERNANZ, V. and TOHARIA, L. (2010): “Mind the gap, please! The effect of temporary help agencies on the consequences of work accidents”, en Journal of Labor Research, 31, pp. 162-182.

GROOT, W. and Van den BRINK, H.M. (1996): “Glass ceilings or dead ends: job promotion of men and women compared”, en Economics Letters, 53(2), pp. 221-226.

GUADALUPE, M. (2003): “The hidden costs of fixed term contracts: the impact on work accidents”, en Labour Economics, 10, pp. 339-357.

HENREKSON, M. and PERSSON, M. (2004): “The effects on sick leave of changes in the sickness insurance system”, en Journal of Labor Economics, 22, pp. 87-113.

HERNANZ, V. and TOHARIA, L. (2006): “Do temporary contracts increase work accidents? A microeconometric comparison between Italy and Spain”, en Labour, 20(3), pp. 475-504.

ICHINO, A. and MORETTI, E. (2009): “Biological gender differences, absenteeism, and the earnings gap”, en American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 1(1), pp. 183-218.

ICHINO, A. and RIPHAHN, R.T. (2005): “The effect of employment protection on worker effort: absenteeism during and after probation”, en Journal of the European Economic Association, 3(1), pp. 120-143.

JOHANSSON, P. and PALME, M. (1996): “Do economic incentives affect work absence? Empirical evidence using Swedish micro data”, en Journal of Public Economics, 59, pp.195-218.

JOHANSSON, P. and PALME, M. (2005): “Moral hazard and sickness insurance”, en Journal of Public Economics, 89, pp.1879-1890.

JOHNSON, W.G. and ONDRICH, J. (1990): “The duration of post-injury absences from work”, en Review of Economics and Statistics, 72(4), pp. 578-586.

KENYON, P. and DAWKINS, P. (1989): “A time series analysis of labour absence in Australia”, en Review of Economics and Statistics, 71, pp. 232- 239.

KRUEGER, A.B. (1990): “Workers’ compensation insurance and the duration of workplace injuries”, Working Paper 3253, NBER.

KRUEGER, A.B. and MEYER, B.D. (2002): “Labor supply effects of social insurance”. En Auerbach, A.J. y Felstein, M. (ed.): Handbook of Public Economics, (pp. 2327-2392), North-Holland, Elsevier Science.

LAZEAR, E.P. and ROSEN, S. (1990): “Male-female wage differentials in job ladders”, en Journal of Labour Economics, 8(1), pp. 106-123.

LEIGH, J.P. (1983): “Sex differences in absenteeism”, en Industrial Relations, 22(3), pp. 349-361.

LEIGH, J.P. (1984): “Unionization and absenteeism”, en Applied Economics, 16, pp. 147-157.

LEIGH, J.P. (1985): “The effects of unemployment and the business cycle on absenteeism”, en Journal of Economics and Business, 37, pp. 159-70.

MARTIN-ROMAN, A. and MORAL, A. (2008): “Moral hazard and gender differences in the workplace accidents insurance”, en Empirical Economics Letters, 7(7), pp. 707-713.

MILLER, P.W. (2009): “The gender pay gap in the US: does sector make a difference?”, en Journal of Labor Research, 30, pp. 52-74

MORAL DE BLAS, A., MARTÍN-ROMÁN A. and RODRÍGUEZ CABALLERO, J. C. (2010): “La antigüedad y las diferencias de esfuerzo entre trabajadores de distintas zonas geográficas: un estudio de los accidentes de trabajo”, Estudios de Economía Aplicada, 28(1), PP. 1-20.

MORRISON, A.M., WHITE, R.P. and VAN VELSOR, E. and the Center for Creative Leadership (1987): Breaking the glass ceiling: can women reach the top of America’s largest corporations? Reading, Addison-Wesley.

MOTELLÓN, E. and LÓPEZ-BAZO, E. (2005): “Discriminación por género en el acceso a la contratación indefinida”, unpublished manuscript, VIII Encuentro de Economía Aplicada, Murcia.

NEUHAUSER, F. and RAPHAEL, S. (2004): “The effect of an increase in worker’s compensation benefits on the duration and frequency of benefit receipt”, en The Review of Economics and Statistics, 86(1), pp. 288-302.

NIELSEN, H.S. (1998): “Discrimination and detailed decomposition in a logit model”, en Economics Letters, 61, pp. 115-120.

OAXACA, R.L. (1973): “Male-female wage differentials in urban labor markets”, en International Economic Review, 14(3), pp. 693-709.

OAXACA, R.L. and RANSOM, M. (1999): “Identification in detailed wage decompositions”, en Review of Economics and Statistics, 81(1), pp. 154-157.

PARINGER, L. (1983): “Women and absenteeism: health or economics?”, en American Economic Review, 73(2), pp. 123-127.

POULIAKAS, K. and THEODOROPOULOS, N. (2010): "An Inquiry into the Theory, Causes and Consequences of Monitoring Indicators of Health and Safety at Work". IZA Discussion Paper No. 4734.

RANSOM, M. and OAXACA, R.L. (2005): “Intrafirm mobility and sex differences in pay”, en Industrial and Labour Relations Review, 58(2), pp. 219-237.

RODRÍGUEZ-GUTIÉRREZ, C. and CANAL-DOMÍNGUEZ, J. F. (2012): “Is workers’ effort sensitive to contract type and firm ownership? The Spanish case”, en Revista de Economía Laboral, 9, pp. 1-27.

VANDENHEUVEL, A. and WOODEN, M. (1995): “Do explanations of absenteeism differ for men and women?”, en Human Relations, 48(11), pp. 1309- 1329.

VISTNES, J.P. (1997): “Gender differences in days lost from work due to illness”, en Industrial Labour Relations Review, 50(2), pp. 304-323.

WALKER, J.R. (2009): “Earnings, effort, and work flexibility of self-employed women and men: the case of St. Croix County, Wisconsin”, en Journal of Labor Research, 30, pp. 269-288

YUN, M.S. (2004): “Decomposing differences in the first moment”, en Economics Letters, 82, pp. 275-280.

YUN, M. S. (2005): “Normalized equation and decomposition analysis: computation and inference”, IZA Discussion Paper 1822, Tulane University.

Downloads

Published

2020-04-11