Research On The Influence Of Trade Opening On Gender Wage Gap Of Urban Labor Force

Since the reform and opening up,the Chinese economy has continued to grow rapidly,with one important driving factor being the deepening of China’s participation in economic globalization and the continuous improvement of the level of trade openness.International trade has not only enhanced China’s overall strength but also greatly improved people’s well-being,especially by significantly increasing the wages of laborers.However,its impact on gender wage differentials has not been fully discussed.As a populous developing country,gender wage differentials not only affect social justice but also cause a mismatch of human capital.Therefore,this article uses individual microdata from the China Family Panel Studies(CFPS)from 2010 to 2020 to examine the impact of urban trade openness on gender wage differentials,and conducts heterogeneous analysis based on regional,urban,industrial,corporate,and individual perspectives.Finally,the main mechanism of trade openness affecting gender wage differentials is explored.This article finds that trade openness can significantly increase the relative wage levels of female laborers and improve gender wage differentials.After using Bartik instrumental variables and geographic instrumental variables to mitigate endogeneity,the baseline regression conclusion still holds.In terms of heterogeneity,trade openness has a more prominent effect on reducing gender wage differentials in the central and western regions,non-innovative and resource-based cities,the service industry,non-state-owned enterprises,and low-skilled labor.At the same time,this article also uses the Oaxaca-Blinder method to decompose the gender wage differential of China’s labor force from 2010 to 2020,excluding the competitive hypothesis that trade openness improves gender wage differentials by easing gender discrimination,and using urban R&D and patent data to discover that technological progress is the main potential mechanism by which trade openness alleviates gender wage differentials.This article enriches the relevant research on gender wage differentials in the field of international trade and provides empirical evidence for the impact of trade openness on gender wage differentials.At the same time,the research findings of this article are conducive to China’s coordinated construction of a new open economic system and a balanced development of the labor market environment,providing important reference for Chinese female laborers to seize development opportunities and achieve high-quality employment.