of 19%. As for the whole sample, one can see the GEGIs have a rough hump shape in per capita income, but one that varies widely across countries from around 2% to 37%. Also, and as with the full sample, basic and full GEGIs are closely related for the Pacific Islands (Figure 14), with a correlation of 0.93, though can differ for individual countries.

The lowest GEGI score is for the basic measure the Solomon Islands (2.3%). However, the small aggregate gender employment gap masks much larger gaps in better employment, of around 31.5%. While better employment only has a modest weight in the Solomon Islands (of ω=0.4), accounting for gaps in better employment increases the full GEGI to 8.5%. Nauru (+5ppts) and Vanuatu (+4ppts) also experience large increases moving from the basic to the full measure.

There are also countries where the full GEGI is smaller than the basic GEGI because gender gaps in better employment are smaller than for employment as whole. This second group includes Tuvalu (-8ppts), Samoa (- 4ppts), Fiji (-3ppts) and Palau (-2.5ppts).

At other end of the spectrum, the largest GEGIs are in the Marshall Islands (37%) (similar in the basic and full measures). Fiji, Tuvalu, Samoa, Nauru and Micronesia also all have large GEGIs in the order of 20%-35%.

||Male<br>**Ta**<br>**Empl.**<br>**Ratio**|Female<br>**ble 1: Gen**<br>**-to-Pop.**<br>**(15-64)**|**der Emp**<br>**GEGI**<br>**basic**<br>**(%)**|Male<br>**loyme**<br>**Bette**<br>**Rate**|Female<br>**nt Gaps f**<br>**r Empl.**<br>**(15-64)**|**or the Pacific I**<br>**Better Emp.**<br>**Gap (%)**|Male<br>**slands**<br>**Othe**<br>**Rate**|Female<br>**(Basic and**<br>**r Empl.**<br>**(15-64)**|**Full GEGI)**<br>**Other Emp.**<br>**Gap (%)**|<br>**HCI**|**h**|**ω**|**GEGI**<br>**full**<br>**(%)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Fiji|0.77|0.39|33.1%|0.44|0.25|26.9%|0.33|0.13|42.2%|0.51|2.6|0.79|30.1%|
|Samoa|0.52|0.27|32.1%|0.32|0.19|24.7%|0.20|0.08|45.6%|0.55|2.8|0.83|28.2%|
|Kiribati|0.48|0.33|18.6%|_0.29_|_0.21_|16.2%|0.19|0.12|22.4%|0.49|2.5|0.80|17.4%|
|Marshall Islands|0.49|0.23|36.6%|0.32|0.15|37.6%|0.17|0.08|34.7%|0.42|2.1|0.80|37.0%|
|Micronesia, Fed. Sts.|0.66|0.42|22.9%|0.27|0.16|26.5%|0.39|0.26|20.5%|0.51|2.6|0.63|24.3%|
|Nauru|0.74|0.47|22.8%|0.74|0.39|30.5%|0.00|0.07|-100.0%|0.51|2.6|0.98|27.4%|
|Palau|0.77|0.60|12.2%|0.61|0.52|8.1%|0.15|0.08|32.3%|0.59|3.0|0.94|9.7%|
|Solomon Islands|0.88|0.84|2.3%|0.27|0.14|31.5%|0.61|0.70|-7.1%|0.42|2.1|0.40|8.5%|
|Tonga|_0.57_|_0.40_|18.0%|_0.39_|_0.28_|15.2%|0.18|0.11|24.2%|0.53|2.7|0.86|16.5%|
|Tuvalu|0.69|0.34|33.7%|_0.35_|_0.26_|14.7%|0.35|0.09|60.2%|0.45|2.3|0.76|25.6%|
|Vanuatu|0.70|0.57|9.7%|0.21|0.13|24.6%|0.49|0.45|4.4%|0.45|2.3|0.45|13.5%|
|Source: Pennings(2020)a|nd Equat|ions 2,5 an|d 7-9. Fi|gures in|italics use|updated data.|||HCI_min=|0.20||||

# **8. Conclusions**

This paper produces a new measure of the effect of closing gender employment gaps on long-run GDP: the Gender Employment Gap Index (GEGI). Both the basic and full variants of the GEGI are _equal_ to the percentage increase in long-run GDP from increasing female employment to close gender employments gaps, making them particularly easy to interpret. They are also transparent, and can be easily calculated via a simple closed-form expression for almost every country in the world (185 countries for the basic GEGI, 159 for the full GEGI). This is much larger than for estimates in other papers, allowing the production of estimates for many developing countries for which no other estimates exist (including most Pacific Islands). The GEGIs are highly correlated with other measures, which are quantitatively similar when defined using the same mechanims. On average across countries, the GEGIs indicate long-run GDP per capita would be around 19% higher if gender gaps could be closed by increasing female employment to that of men, though for individual countries with the largest gaps, GDP could be up to 85% larger. Long-run GDP per capita would be about 22% larger on average across 11 Pacfic Islands from closing gender employment gaps.

The basic GEGI is defined as the difference between male and female employment, as a share of total employment. This is equal to the precentage increase in employment from increasing female employment until it 17