An empirical analysis of gender differences in asymmetric labor adjustment: evidence from Korea
利用韩国上市公司性别细分就业数据，发现劳动力成本粘性主要由就业调整而非工资调整驱动，且男性调整更显著；管理者在销售下滑时更倾向于解雇女性，这扩大了性别间的任期差距，可能阻碍女性高管的任命与晋升。
Abstract This paper documents the difference in asymmetric labor adjustment between male and female employees, as alluded to in the labor economics literature. Based on detailed gender-specific employment disclosures of Korean-listed firms, we report a significant presence of labor cost stickiness. Breaking labor costs down, we further show that labor cost stickiness is mainly attributable to the asymmetric adjustment of employment rather than that of wages. More importantly, this adjustment is more salient for males than it is for females, suggesting that managers tend to dismiss females to a greater extent than males during sales downturns than they recruit during sales upturns. In cross-sectional analyses, we present evidence that formal and informal institutions underlie the asymmetric labor adjustment. Lastly, gender differences in asymmetric labor adjustment widen the tenure gap across gender, which may contribute to the low likelihood of firms appointing and promoting female executives.