Sticky Floors and Glass Ceilings in Top Corporate Jobs

Using data for the years 2001-2007 from the OSIRIS database on the total compensation for top executive officers of publicly listed US firms, the authors analyze the gender pay gaps across the distribution of total compensation. In the estimations, the authors control for individual and firm characteristics and find that the estimated pay gaps are larger at the bottom of the distribution than at the top of the distribution. The main determinant of this "sticky floor" effect is a manager's occupation pointing itself towards a "glass ceiling" effect