Economist Claudia Goldin is seen on a display.

The Nobel prize in economics was on Monday awarded to American economist Claudia Goldin for her research that has helped understand the role of women in the labour market.

The 77-year-old Harvard professor, who is the third woman to be awarded the prestigious economics prize, was given the nod "for having advanced our understanding of women's labour market outcomes," the jury said.

"Her research reveals the causes of change, as well as the main sources of the remaining gender gap," it added in a statement.

Globally, about 50 percent of women participate in the labour market compared to 80 percent of men, but women earn less and are less likely to reach the top of the career ladder, the prize committee noted.

The Nobel prize in economics has the fewest number of women laureates, with just two others since it was first awarded in 1969 -- Elinor Ostrom in 2009 and Esther Duflo in 2019.

Goldin has "trawled the archives and collected over 200 years of data from the US," the jury said.

"She studied something that many people, many historians, for instance, simply decided not to study before because they didn't think these data existed," Nobel committee member Randi Hjalmarsson said, calling Goldin "a detective".

The jury highlighted that Goldin's work's "provided the first comprehensive account of women's earnings and labour market participation through the centuries."

It noted that despite modernisation -- coupled with economic growth and a rising proportion of women in the labour market -- the earnings gap between men and women hardly closed for a long time.

"According to Goldin, part of the explanation is that educational decisions, which impact a lifetime of career opportunities, are made at a relatively young age," the jury noted.

Agence France-Presse