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Ongoing project

What we do For a Living: Gender biased differences in tasks and pay

Project period 2021–2025
Project nr. 10561 // NFR: 324358
Project leader Pål Schøne
Rushhour

Project Background

Even after decades of gender convergence in skill-levels and employment, the occupational distribution of workers remains surprisingly segregated by gender. Occupational and task segregation are key factors behind the current slowdown in the narrowing of the earnings gap between men and. At the same time, changes in the occupational structure and demand for different tasks are attracting increased attention both in research and among policy makers: Digitalization and automation, globalization, and structural transformation are changing what we do for a living.

These occupational transitions are likely to take a new turn in the current corona-crisis: Digitalization is getting a new push, the secular decline in retail occupations and concurrent rise in health and care occupations are likely to accelerate, while offshoring may come to a halt with interruptions in the international value chains.

Knowledge about these patterns is essential for understanding gender inequalities in the labor market and for designing policies that can remedy costs of occupational change that has a strong gender component.

Project Aim

The primary objective of this project is to study how the ongoing transformations in the occupational distribution affect men and women work differently: Their labor market opportunities, skills requirements, work hours, and wages. Our aim is to be able to unpack important mechanisms leading up to the aggregate patterns; how occupations are affected by the transformations, individual trajectories in adapting to change; the role of gender segregation between high and low productivity firms; and gender differences in skills transferability between occupations and re-skilling opportunities.

We have put together an excellent team of economists that include international partners from Dartmouth College and Wellesley College in the US.

Data protection

ISF is responsible for the project processing personal data in accordance with the privacy regulations. Sikt reference is 55033. If you want more information about the project's processing of personal data, you can contact our external privacy representative in Sikt.

Participants

ParticipantDegree PhoneE-mail
Erling Barth Research Professor +47 930 91 410 erling.barth@samfunnsforskning.no
Harald Dale-Olsen Research Professor +47 482 83 527 +47 958 08 463 harald.dale-olsen@samfunnsforskning.no
Inés Hardoy Research Professor +47 472 45 113 ines.hardoy@samfunnsforskning.no
Maria Forthun Hoen Senior Research Fellow +47 476 20 350 m.f.hoen@samfunnsforskning.no
Pål Schøne Research Professor +47 986 22 125 pal.schone@samfunnsforskning.no
Marte Strøm Research Professor +47 408 85 333 marte.strom@samfunnsforskning.no
Claudia Olivetti (Dartmouth college)
Sari Kerr (Wellesley College)

Publications

  • Barth, Erling; Hoen, Maria Forthun; Kerr, Sari Pekkala & Kerr, William (2026). Declining Occupations and Career Outcomes in the United States. NBER Working Paper Series. doi: 10.3386/w35614. Full text in Research Archive
  • Barth, Erling; Hoen, Maria Forthun; Kerr, Sari Pekkala & Kerr, William (2026). Declining Occupations and Career Outcomes in Norway. AEA Papers and Proceedings. 116, p. 255–255. doi: 10.1257/pandp.20261005. Full text in Research Archive
  • Røed, Marianne; Schøne, Pål & Strøm, Marte (2025). How important is girls’ ‘Biological Head Start’ in explaining gender differences in education and the labour market? Economics and Human Biology. 56. doi: 10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101466. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bryson, Alex & Dale-Olsen, Harald (2025). Job search under changing labour taxes. Labour Economics. doi: 10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102750. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hardoy, Ines & Schøne, Pål (2025). Roboter og opplæring i norsk arbeidsliv: Omfang og kjønnsforskjeller. Søkelys på arbeidslivet. doi: 10.18261/spa.42.1.3. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

  • Bøckmann, Ester; Cools, Sara & Strøm, Marte (2026). How Partner Disagreement Shapes Fertility: Gender, Timing, and the Resolution of Competing Preferences. Full text in Research Archive
  • Dale-Olsen, Harald (2026). Something in the way she searches – Gender differences in search behaviour following labour income tax changes. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bøckmann, Ester & Strøm, Marte (2025). Having It All? Broadband Technology and The Growing Divide Between High and Low Skilled Women. Full text in Research Archive
  • Barth, Erling & Dale-Olsen, Harald (2025). Monopsony, labour demand fluctuations and the gender wage gap. Full text in Research Archive
  • Barth, Erling & Dale-Olsen, Harald (2025). Monopsony, labour demand fluctuations and the gender wage gap. Full text in Research Archive
  • Barth, Erling (2025). Monopsony, labour demand fluctuations and the gender wage gap. Full text in Research Archive
  • Røed, Marianne; Schøne, Pål & Strøm, Marte (2024). How Important is the “Biological Head Start” of Girls for Explaining Gender Differences in Education and the Labor Market? Full text in Research Archive
  • Strøm, Marte (2024). Nobelforedraget. Full text in Research Archive
  • Strøm, Marte (2024). Nobelforedraget. Samfunnsøkonomen. 1(1). Full text in Research Archive
  • Dale-Olsen, Harald & Barth, Erling (2024). Monopsony, labour demand fluctuations and the gender wage gap. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bøckmann, Ester & Strøm, Marte (2024). Having it all? Broadband technology and the growing divide between high and low skilled women. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bøckmann, Ester & Strøm, Marte (2024). Having it all? Broadband technology and the growing divide between high and low skilled women. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

Research topics: labour market, equality and gender, economics
Published Oct. 15, 2021 11:55 AM - Last modified June 5, 2026 2:34 PM