Are Male/Female Earnings Differentials Related to Life-Expectancy-Caused Pension Cost Differences?
Author InfoMoore, Robert L Abstract This paper argues that employers using defined-benefit pension plans are forced by competitive conditions to lower females’ earnings to account for more costly pension liabilities resulting from longer life expectancy. A newly constructed data set containing employee salary histories and pension plan descriptions from five firms is used to calculate how much more it costs to employ a female versus a male worker, identical except for life expectancy. It is demonstrated that each dollar of increased pension liabilities results in a reduction in females’ salaries by fifty-five cents. Implications of these findings for the 1983 Supreme Court ruling involving sex-linked pension benefits are discussed. Copyright 1987 by Oxford University Press. Download InfoTo our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options: 1. Check below under “Related research” whether another version of this item is avail
