Equal work opportunity but unequal income: Gender disparities among low-income households in urban China

Using data collected from a survey of 1,622 relatively low-income households in Changsha in January 2007, this paper compares gender disparities in employment and disposable income among the relatively poor urban population in China. We found that although there is no difference in the probability of either gender being employed, male respondents have higher levels of disposable income than females. The Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition technique was used to determine whether education and age can explain part of the wage gap.