Gender Wage Inequality Along the Wage Curve: In Quest For Discrimination in Turkiye

This study aims to investigate male and female wage differentials in Turkiye, using the Household Budget Surveys of 2003 and 2011. First, descriptive statistics are introduced to capture the gender-based outlook of employment. Then, Mincerian wage equations are estimated by quantile regression to explore the returns to labor characteristics and per-year returns to educational categories are obtained to observe the role of wage premia in determining the gender wage gap. Finally, a counterfactual analysis by Juhn, Murphy, and Pierce (1993) is conducted to decompose sources of gender wage inequality into endowment, remuneration, and unobservable effects. The pattern of wage inequality and returns to education differ along the wage distribution. The gender wage gap tends to fall during the period and across the wage curve as we move towards the upper tail. Price discrimination preserves its position irrespective of income level but decreases over the course of time.