Compensation, Diversity, and Inclusion at the World Bank Group

That women earn considerably less than men, even for the same job, is well established at the level of countries and industries. Increasingly, large companies and institutions are examining their own diversity and inclusion policies to understand whether they are sufficient to guarantee pay equality. In this talk, Jishnu Das and Clement Joubert will discuss the results of a study that examines differences in salaries at the World Bank Group across men and women and across Part 1 and Part 2 staff. The study draws on data on all employees between 1987 and 2015, and highlights the relative contribution of multiple factors to current salary gaps:

• Staff composition: Men and women are hired into different grades

• Entry salaries: Men and women hired into the same grade earn different salaries when joining the World Bank Group

• Salary growth: The salaries of men and women hired into the same grade grow at different rates

• Attrition: Staff who leave the World Bank Group come from different parts of the salary distribution depending on their sex or nationality

Das and Joubert will discuss broad patterns in the data and the results of the decomposition exercise.

This study is the result of a joint initiative between the Development Research Group, the Gender CCSA, and Human Resources. Funding was provided by DEC, the Gender CCSA, and Human Resources. The authors of the analysis are Jishnu Das (Lead Economist), Clement Joubert (Economist), and Sander Tordoir (Consultant).

Jishnu Das, Lead Economist, Development Research Group
Jishnu Das is a Lead Economist in the Development Research Group (Human Development and Public Services Team) at the World Bank and a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Policy Research, New Delhi. Jishnu’s work focuses on the delivery of basic services, particularly health and education. He has worked on the quality of health care, mental health, information in health and education markets, child learning and test-scores and the determinants of trust. His work has been published in leading economics, health and education journals and widely covered in the media and policy forums.
Clément Joubert, Economist, Development Research Group
Clément Joubert is an economist in the Development Research Group, Human Development and Public Services Team. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010. His research focuses on pension reform, informality, labor market mismatch and gender inequality.
Asli Demirgüç-Kunt, Director of Research
Asli Demirgüç-Kunt is the Director of Research in the World Bank. After joining the Bank in 1989 as a Young Economist, she has held different positions, including Director of Development Policy, Chief Economist of Financial and Private Sector Development Network, and Senior Research Manager, doing research and advising on financial sector and private sector development issues.
Caren Grown, Senior Director, Gender Global Practice
Caren Grown is an internationally recognized expert on gender issues in development. Prior to joining the Bank, she was Economist-In-Residence and co-director of the Program on Gender Analysis in Economics at American University (AU) in Washington, DC. In 2013-2014, she led the UNU-WIDER program on aid effectiveness and gender equality, an international effort which resulted in 22 commissioned papers and a global synthesis.
Daniel Sellen, Chair, World Bank Group Staff Association
Daniel Sellen, a Canadian national, is Chair of the World Bank Group Staff Association. He has been in the Bank for twenty years, the last twelve of which based in Delhi, Abidjan, and Bogotá.

The Policy Research Talks showcase the latest findings of the research department and their implications for World Bank operations. The goal of the monthly event is to facilitate a dialogue between researchers and operational staff, so that we can challenge and contribute to the World Bank's intellectual climate and re-examine conventional wisdom in current development theories and practices. Read More »

Jishnu Das, Lead Economist, Development Research Group

Clément Joubert, Economist, Development Research Group

Asli Demirgüç-Kunt, Director of Research

Caren Grown, Senior Director, Gender Global Practice

Daniel Sellen, Chair, World Bank Group Staff Association

Event Details

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