Gender Wage Disparities among the Highly Educated
Dan A Black1, Amelia Haviland2, Seth G Sanders3
1University of Chicago & NORC Harris School University of Chicago 1155 East 60 Street Chicago, IL 60637.
The Journal of Human Resources
|June 23, 2015
Summary
College-educated women face a significant wage gap compared to men. Pre-market factors like education and experience explain a substantial portion of this gender pay disparity.
Area of Science:
- Economics
- Sociology
- Labor Studies
Background:
- College-educated women in the U.S. earn about 30% less than non-Hispanic white men.
- Significant wage disparities persist across racial and ethnic groups of women.
Purpose of the Study:
- To empirically examine the gender wage gap for college-educated women.
- To quantify the extent to which pre-market factors explain these wage disparities for different demographic groups.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the National Survey of College Graduates for detailed higher education data.
- Employed nonparametric matching analysis to assess wage gap determinants.
- Conducted parametric analyses for comparative insights.
Main Results:
- Pre-market factors (degree, major) accounted for 44-73% of the gender wage gap for English-speaking individuals.
- For women with high labor force attachment, 54-99% of the wage gap was explained by these factors.
- Nonparametric methods provided less misleading inferences than traditional regression-based decompositions.
Conclusions:
- Pre-market factors significantly explain a large portion of the gender wage gap among college-educated women.
- Nonparametric analysis offers a more reliable method for decomposing wage disparities.
- Further research into remaining unexplained wage gaps is warranted.
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