Evidence Regarding the Persistence in Gender Unemployment Gaps Across Countries

Abstract

We provide empirical evidence regarding the persistence in the gender unemployment gap in a group of 23 OECD countries. The gender unemployment gap, measured as the ratio of the female unemployment rate to the male unemployment rate, is stationary for fourteen out of the 23 countries in our sample. Further, the extent of persistence in the gender unemployment gap is relatively low as reflected by the corresponding half-life measures across all countries in our sample.