Labor Market Participation and Gender Wage Gap: The Case of Young Workers in Senegal

ABSTRACT This study aims to identify the factors influencing labor market participation and the wage gap among young people in Senegal. Based on a representative survey of 1560 young people aged 18–35, we performed probit and Heckman selection models, and an Oaxaca‐Blinder decomposition. The results show that whatever the level of education is, men earn more than women. In addition, we show that 44.4% of the participation gap is due to a difference in endowments, and 55.6% is attributable to discrimination. Furthermore, we found that discrimination is a very large and significant component of the wage gap, accounting for 62.6%. It also appears that selection bias, when not considered, tends to underestimate the effect of discrimination on earnings differentials, which rises to 77.8% after its mitigation. These results highlight the need to promote further equal access to the labor market by creating new opportunities for women and implementing the principle of equal pay for equal work.