Abstract:

Female workers earn $0.89 for each male-worker dollar even in a unionized workplacewhere tasks, wages, and promotion schedules are identical for men and women by design.We use administrative time card data on bus and train operators to show that the earningsgap can be explained by female operators taking, on average, 1.5 fewer hours of overtimeand 1.3 more hours of unpaid time-off per week than male operators. Female operators,especially those who have dependents, pursue schedule conventionality, predictability, andcontrollability more than male operators. Analyzing two policy changes, we demonstratethat while reducing schedule controllability can reduce the earnings gap, it can also makeworkers—particularly female workers—worse off.