Zoltán Lippényi

The substantial rise in the age at first birth in recent decades suggests that people are delaying their first attempt to have a child. The age at first birth, however, may not accurately reflect when people first attempt to conceive, given age-related declines in the ability to get pregnant and to achieve a live birth. Through a microsimulation model incorporating biological parameters and sequential Approximate Bayesian Computation, we estimate the distribution of the age at first attempt to conceive from 1960 to 1980 based on the age at first birth derived from Dutch administrative data. Over this period, the average age at first conception attempt, as inferred by the models, increases by two years. Unexpectedly, the average duration to childbirth remains stable despite later conception attempts, which is partly explained by a selection effect at advanced ages favouring couples with higher fecundity, with less fecund couples having higher rates of childlessness. We assess the influence of model assumptions on our results and underscore the promise of Approximate Bayesian Computation for future demographic and fertility research.

There are ongoing discussions about whether corporate boardroom quotas impact gender equality within organizations beyond the level of leadership. We examine the impact of the Dutch target law – a weakly enforced quota policy applying to a wide range of firms – on gender wage disparities and female representation across organizational levels. Our findings are ambivalent: while the quota did not reduce the gender wage gap in targeted firms relative to comparable firms, it did increase women’s representation in higher organizational wage echelons below the board. Using linked employer-employee register data and both regression discontinuity and difference-in-differences designs, we show evidence of a gradual shift towards greater gender parity in top employee income quartiles, without corresponding wage equalization. These findings highlight how boardroom quotas, even with weak enforcement, can produce compositional shifts without equalization, providing new empirical evidence and theoretical insight into the mechanisms through which institutional re-forms shape inequality.

This paper examines the role of first managerial experiences in shaping women top executives’ impact on workplace gender equality. Connecting literature on change agency with career imprinting, we present novel theorizing on how the representation and power of women in leadership experienced in the first managerial role shape women leaders’ impact on differences in outcomes between men and women. We used longitudinal register panel data on employee wages and linked them to the executive careers of the directors of Dutch organizations between 2006 and 2019. Fixed-effects panel regression analyses demonstrated that women executives exposed to same-gender peers in directorate boards and a woman CEO during their first executive role are more likely to become agents of change by furthering women employees’ wage progression and chances of receiving a permanent contract. Our study enriches the agents of change literature by drawing attention to the influence of early career experiences on women leaders’ impact on gender equality in workplaces.

Immigrants to high-income countries often face considerable and persistent labor market difficulties upon arrival, while their native-born children typically experience economic progress. However, little is known about the degree to which these immigrant–native earnings differences stem from unequal pay when doing the same work for the same employer versus labor market processes that sort immigrants into lower-paid jobs. Using linked employer–employee data on 13.4 million workers from nine European and North American countries, we find that the segregation of immigrant-background workers in lower-paying jobs accounts for about four-fifths of immigrant–native earnings differences. Although within-job pay inequality remains consequential for immigrants in several countries, our results demonstrate that lack of access to higher-paying jobs is the primary driver of the immigrant–native pay gap across a range of highly diverse institutional and demographic host-country contexts. These findings highlight the importance of policies aimed at reducing between-job segregation, such as language, job training, and job search assistance programs; improving access to domestic education; recognizing foreign qualifications; and settlement programs aimed at enhancing access to job-relevant information and networks. Policies targeting employer bias in hiring and promotion decisions are also likely of high relevance, whereas measures aimed at ensuring equal pay for equal work may have more limited potential for further progress in closing the immigrant–native pay gap.

This paper studies the role of early career experiences in female organizational leaders’ impact on workplace gender equality. Connecting literature on change agency with career imprinting, we present novel theorizing on how representation and power of women in leadership experienced early in managerial careers shape female leaders’ impact on differences in outcomes between men and women. We used longitudinal register panel data on employee wages and linked it to the executive careers of the directors of Dutch organizations between 2006 and 2019. Fixed-effects panel regression analyses demonstrate that female organizational leaders exposed to female peers in directorate boards and a female CEO during their first managerial role are likelier to become “agents of change” by furthering female employees’ wage progression and chances of receiving a permanent contract. Our study enriches the agents of change literature by drawing attention to the influence of early career experiences on female leaders’ impact on gender equality in workplaces.

Significance: Understanding the causes of rising inequality is of concern in many countries. Using administrative data, we find that the share of inequality that is between workplaces is growing in 12 of 14 countries examined, and in no country has it fallen. Countries with declining employment protections see growth in both between- and within-workplace inequalities, but this impact is stronger for between-workplace inequalities. These results suggest that to reduce market income inequality requires policies that raise the bargaining power of lower-skilled workers. The widespread rise in between-workplace inequality additionally suggests policy responses that target the increasing market power of firms in concentrated markets as well as curb the ability of powerful firms to outsource low skill employment.