To obtain a more complete understanding of the persisting gender earnings gap in Germany, this paper investigates both … the cross-sectional and biographical dimension of gender inequalities. Using an Oaxaca Blinder decomposition, we show that … the gender gap in annual earnings is largely driven by women's lower work experience and intensive margin of labor supply …

measures like the gender wage gap. …

A comprehensive descriptive analysis of gender wage differences over a long time period is missing for West Germany … well as life-cycle and birth cohort effects, we go beyond conventional decomposition techniques of the average gender wage … gap. The paper provides some stylized facts of the level and dynamics of the gender wage gap from 1975 - 1995. The …

, however, do not contribute to a further closing of the gender wage gap. …