Gender differences in job seekers’ access, activation, and returns to social capital

Persistent gender inequalities in labor markets are often attributed to gendered differences in social capital and the use of social networks during job search. This study examines gender disparities in social capital among job seekers using eighteen waves of the German Panel Study Labour Market and Social Security (PASS) and a novel causal decomposition approach (Yu & Elwert 2025). We distinguish between access to social capital (available network resources), activation (received job search resources), and returns (outcomes such as wages, job satisfaction, and job interviews). While women in the general population have more limited access to weak ties and high-status contacts, these differences narrow substantially among active job seekers. Consistent with this pattern, women and men receive similar levels of network-based job search support. Crucially, we find no evidence of a gender-specific returns deficit in wages or job satisfaction and only limited evidence for job interviews. Overall, the findings suggest that gender inequalities in job search outcomes are not primarily driven by differential access to, activation of, or returns from social capital.