Research & Expertise

Experts from the World Bank and HSE University discussed the gender gap in salaries in different countries and the impact of socio-cultural, economic and behavioural factors on differences in earnings.

HSE University economists question whether Russian STEM specialists are better paid than non-STEM specialists. They compare wages of professionals with STEM and no STEM majors, and those working in STEM and no STEM jobs and explore how the gap evolves over the life cycle. They find that there is no advantage of STEM major and STEM job over their no STEM alternative. They present their findings in a paper published in the Voprosy Ekonomiki journal.

Although many studies point to highly negative trends in returns to education in Russia, the situation actually appears to be stable and without any signs of overinvestment in human capital. This is the conclusion of Rostislav Kapeliushnikov, Deputy Director of the HSE Centre for Labour Market Studies and Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The results of his research are presented in the article ‘Returns to Education in Russia: Nowhere Below?’ published in the 8^th issue of the Voprosy Ekonomiky journal.

What fields employees can hope to get high salaries in? What is the return on higher education? How is life expectancy related to retirement age? These and some other issues were discussed by experts at the First Conference ‘Labour Market: Demographic Challenges and Human Capital’ organized by the HSE Human Capital Multidisciplinary Research Centre.

On average, women in Russia earn 30-35% less than men. According to this indicator, Russia is ahead of many developed countries. The difference in earnings is primarily associated with the uneven distribution of men and women in different industries and professions, but economists cannot explain a significant portion of the discrepancy. Aleksey Oshchepkov, Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Economic Sciences at HSE University, came to these conclusions after analyzing research materials and survey data. The results are published in a chapter of the volume, Gendering Post-Soviet Space, recently published by Springer.

The ageing population may turn into a serious challenge despite seniors' improving physical and mental health. Rostislav Kapelyushnikov, Deputy Director of the HSE Center for Labor Market Studies and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, looked into the causes and possible consequences of falling birth rates and longer life expectancy.

Openness, friendliness, tenacity, motivation, risk-taking, self-control and other non-cognitive components of human capital can be important determinants of earnings. And parental investment in their children’s non-cognitive skills affects their future academic and career success. This is set out in the work of HSE University’s Centre for Labour Market Studies (CLMS).

New joint paper by Hartmut Lehmann (CLMS Leading Research Fellow), Mikhail Ananyev (BGSE, University of Bonn) and Thomas Dohmen (University of Bonn, Maastricht University and IZA) " The Bonding Effect of Deferred Compensation: Worker Separations from a Large Firm in Early Transition Russia " is published in the IZA Discussion Paper Series.