[Séminaire Caen] Labour market concentration and gender gaps

Abstract:
This paper explores how labour market concentration influences gender wage gaps, hiring practices, and working conditions. Using French employer-employee data and a gender-specific commuting zone definition, the study finds that higher concentration widens the gender wage gap, reduces women’s share among new hires, and exacerbates job security and flexibility disparities. Women with children and of childbearing age are especially vulnerable to firms’ monopsonistic power, which exploits lower mobility and specific job requirements. These findings provide empirical support for theories predicting that low competition enables firms to extract rents from less mobile or more constrained workers, deepening gender inequalities.
Co-écrit avec Johanne Bacheron (Université de Turin), Eva Moreno-Galbis (Amse) et Jeremy Tanguy (Université Savoie Mont Blanc)