Gender differences in low pay labour mobility and the national minimum wage

This paper examines gender differences in the duration of low pay employment spells prior to and after the introduction in the National Minimum Wage in 1999. The results suggest that the dynamics out of low pay differ by gender and that these differences change after 1999. These differences are driven by the differing impact of a number of covariates such as age and education on the baseline hazards. Overall, the effect of many covariates on expected duration is often less in absolute terms for women than men, although such differences frequently decline after 1999. At mean values, gender differences in expected duration of low pay effectively disappear and gender differences in the exit probability to high pay decline after 1999. However, for individuals with characteristics most associated with long periods of low pay, the high pay exit probability is substantially lower after 1999 for women than for men.