Three essays on women in the economy

This volume is composed of three essays on women's status in the economy. The first essay, entitled "Compensating Differentials or Discrimination? Revisiting the Gender Earnings Gap" addresses the issue of women's inferior earnings in the labour market attributed to the persistent wage gap even in the higher strata of the labour market, such as managerial and professional jobs. This essay uses a 'rat race' theoretical model applied to the Statistics Canada---Workplace and Employee Survey to test whether the gender wage gap is falling in the number of hours worked above the full-time work week. The findings reveal that when women compete with men in this stratum of the labour market, they are forced into a social welfare reducing allocation of inefficiently excessive hours. Women are apt to be aware of this form of discrimination, thus they opt out of rat race situations, as it is counterproductive to quality of life considerations.; The second essay entitled "The Private Costs for Youth Engaged in the Sex Trade: An Empirical Examination of the Lifelong Employment, Earnings and Health Effects" examines the lifelong wage scarring effects for individuals who had been involved in the sex trade for a period during their youth. The Statistics Canada---Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) combined with data collected from personal interviews with former sex trade workers are utilized to compare the former prostitutes' wages and employment status to similar women in SLID. Random and fixed effects models applied to panel data reveal that former sex trade workers experience less favorable outcomes in the labour market, as the earlier events in their lives have interfered with the acquisition of human capital endowments and the job experience needed to enhance earnings in the mainstream labour market. The essay concludes that there are multiple reasons for policymakers to fund prevention programs which counteract the conditions of vulnerability that bring youth to this lifestyle and the factors that keep them in it.; The third essay entitled "An Examination of the Fiscal Impact from Youth Involvement in the Sex Trade: The Case for Evaluating Priorities in Prevention" uses data collected from personal interviews with former sex trade workers and an economic costing methodology to calculate the incremental fiscal resources expended to provide supports and services to the respondents. The findings reveal that the government recoups the net present value of the investment in a prevention strategy if fewer than two youth are dissuaded from engaging in the sex trade. These cost assessments have implications of paramount importance for evaluating the priorities of public policy on investments in prevention programs.