Family, firms and the gender wage gap in France

In France in the private sector, 11% of the hourly gender wage gap is accounted by a female sorting in lower-paying firms, once controlling for worker productivity. This sorting effect increases along the life cycle, with births of children, especially after the birth of the second child. The sorting effect is twice larger between mothers and fathers than between childless women and men. Mothers tend to work more often in firms located close to their homes and where part time is frequent. Work and family lives conciliation can be at the expense of wage opportunities for mothers. Indeed, mothers make fewer firm mobilities than fathers and work more often in firms with a high proportion of minimum-wage earners. Labor market exits of young mothers in the years following births also impact the sorting effect life-cycle profile. These less favourable career dynamics add up to the wage loss that immediately follow births for mothers.