At What Level of Labor Market Intermittency Are Women Penalized?

A common explanation offered for the observed wage differential between men and
women is that women are less attached to the
labor market; they exhibit a greater degree of
labor-market intermittency than do men. There
are several theories that explain this link between intermittency and lower wages, including
differences in human-capital attainment, atrophy of skills during absences, and preferences
of employers (see e.g., Solomon W. Polachek
and W. Stanley Siebert, 1993; Joyce P. Jacobsen and Laurence M. Levin, 1995; James W.
Albrecht et al., 2000). The goal of this paper is
to explore in greater depth the role past labormarket intermittency plays in the determination
of a woman’s current wage and at what level of
intermittent activity women can expect to have
that activity affect her wage