College Majors, Occupations, and the Gender Wage Gap
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4029310 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Carolyn M Sloane (Carolyn M. Sloane is Assistant Professor of Economics, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California.), Carolyn Sloane (University of California, Riverside), Erik Hurst (0000-0003-3760-3051, University of Chicago), Erik G Hurst (Erik G. Hurst is Frank P. and Marianne R. Diassi Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Chicago, Illinois.), Dan A Black (Dan A. Black is Professor of Public Policy, University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy, Chicago, Illinois.) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 223-248 |
| Publication date | 2021-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Economic Perspectives (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0895-3309 • E-ISSN: 1944-7965 |
| Publisher | American Economic Association (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1257/jep.35.4.223 |
| OpenAlex | W3210212536 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 22 |
| References cited | 5 |
The paper assesses gender differences in pre-labor market specialization among the college-educated and highlights how those differences have evolved over time. Women choose majors with lower potential earnings (based on male wages associated with those majors) and subsequently sort into occupations with lower potential earnings given their major choice. These differences have narrowed over time, but recent cohorts of women still choose majors and occupations with lower potential earnings. Differences in undergraduate major choice explain a substantive portion of gender wage gaps for the college-educated above and beyond simply controlling for occupation. Collectively, our results highlight the importance of understanding gender differences in the mapping between college major and occupational sorting when studying the evolution of gender differences in labor market outcomes over time
Demographic economics · Earnings · Economics · Gender gap · Labour economics · Occupational segregation · sort · Sorting · Wage · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality
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Degrees of Return
| Unique citing works | 22 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 7,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 22 |