The Social Pay Gap Among Occupational Twins: A Task-Based Comparison

The relevance of certain occupations for society has become evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the societal appreciation does not show in earnings, particularly not for care work. In light of the ongoing calls for pay raises in these occupations, our paper provides a rationale to identify differences in job content and pay between social and other occupations. We propose a data-driven approach that compares all jobs based on their tasks content. Accordingly, 13 % of all occupations are highly comparable and, within this group, the wage penalty of social occupations (e.g., health care, education) corresponds to up to around 500 lower earnings per month.