The iron-out effect of digital economy: A discussion on gender wage rate discrimination for working hours

The scale of China’s digital economy has accounted for over one-third of the total GDP. How this development impacts the wage rates of both genders and, therefore, reshapes the pattern of gender wage rates discrimination? Using the 2018 urban data from the Chinese Household Income Project as a sample, this study comprehensively employed the Mincer wage determination, Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition and moderating effect models to examine the role of working hours (WHs) in developing the gender wage rate gap (WRG) and to analyse the heterogeneous impact of the digital economy. The study deduced that relatively longer WHs of men compared to those of women helped narrow the gender WRG by 16%. However, relatively higher rate of return for men widened the gender WRG by 14%–19%. The prospering digital economy has not significantly changed the pattern of WHs between genders and will not significantly impact the endowment effect. However, it may increase the wage rate for women, ironing out the discriminatory effect faced by both genders on the dimension of WHs. We can focus on reducing the digital divide by guiding the diffusion of digital economy elements to weak areas and vulnerable groups and providing more active and sufficient digital skills training for women, especially those employed in low- and medium-skilled jobs. These measures will help reduce the gender WRG, promote ‘equal pay for equal work’ and realise the positive outcomes of the iron-out effect of the digital economy on the discrimination effect of WHs.