Gender Effects on Labor Market Outcomes in Russia, 1985-2001: Institutional Change, Family Structure, and Regional Variation

Theodore P. Gerber, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Brienna Perelli-Harris, University of Wisconsin at Madison

We analyze factors influencing the evolving effects of gender on labor market outcomes in contemporary Russia. Using 7,167 employment histories spanning 1985-2001 from the Survey of Stratification and Migration Dynamics in Russia, we estimate event history models for employment events (employment entries and exits, job changes) and logistic regression models for changes in career trajectories (upward and downward mobility conditional on a job change taking place). We empirically address several research questions regarding institutional change and gender inequality in the labor market: 1) How has Russia’s market transition affected gender differences in access to employment and career trajectories through jobs of different quality? 2) How do marital status and fertility shape the labor market transitions of Russian women and men during the late-Soviet and post-Soviet era? 3) Do the dynamics of gender differences in labor market outcomes vary by region and type of locality in a context of market transition?