IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v56y2003i4p606-621.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Salaries of Recent Male and Female College Graduates: Educational and Labor Market Effects

Author

Listed:
  • Lois Joy

Abstract

Why do recent male college graduates earn more than their female counterparts? The author explores this question by estimating several salary regressions using data from the 1993–94 NCES Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study. The results suggest that labor market variables outweighed academic variables in their contribution to the gender salary gap. Of the academic variables, gender differences in total credits accounted for more of the salary gap than did gender differences in majors, grades, or institution attended. Of the labor market variables, gender differences in job sector, industry, and hours worked had the largest effect on gender differences in salaries. Differences in how men and women searched for and selected first jobs appear to have had little impact on gender differences in salary. Most important, as much as 75% of the wage gap remains unexplained by both the academic and labor market variables.

Suggested Citation

  • Lois Joy, 2003. "Salaries of Recent Male and Female College Graduates: Educational and Labor Market Effects," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(4), pages 606-621, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:56:y:2003:i:4:p:606-621
    DOI: 10.1177/001979390305600404
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001979390305600404
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/001979390305600404?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yolanda Kodrzycki, 2001. "Migration of recent college graduates: evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, pages 13-34.
    2. Paglin, Morton & Rufolo, Anthony M, 1990. "Heterogeneous Human Capital, Occupational Choice, and Male-Female Earnings Differences," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages 123-144, January.
    3. Monks, James, 2000. "The returns to individual and college characteristics: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 279-289, June.
    4. Jeff Grogger & Eric Eide, 1995. "Changes in College Skills and the Rise in the College Wage Premium," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 30(2), pages 280-310.
    5. Rumberger, Russell W. & Thomas, Scott L., 1993. "The economic returns to college major, quality and performance: A multilevel analysis of recent graduates," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. G. Russo & W.H.J. Hassink, 2005. "The Part-Time Wage Penalty: a Career Perspective," Working Papers 05-01, Utrecht School of Economics.
    2. Sergey Roshchin & Victor Rudakov, 2015. "Do Starting Salaries for Graduates Measure the Quality of Education? A Review of Studies by Russian and Foreign Authors," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 1, pages 137-181.
    3. Qenani-Petrela, Eivis & Wolf, Marianne McGarry, 2007. "Differential Earnings of the Agricultural Graduates: New Evidence from the Agribusiness Industry," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 10(2), pages 1-18.
    4. Light, Audrey & Schreiner, Sydney, 2019. "College major, college coursework, and post-college wages," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    5. Marlene Kim, 2013. "Race and ethnicity in the workplace," Chapters, in: Deborah M. Figart & Tonia L. Warnecke (ed.), Handbook of Research on Gender and Economic Life, chapter 14, pages 218-235, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Sungjin Cho & Jihye Kam & Soohyung Lee, 2018. "Efficient Supply Of Human Capital: Role Of College Major," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 63(05), pages 1319-1343, December.
    7. Russo, Giovanni & Hassink, Wolter, 2005. "The Part-Time Wage Penalty: A Career Perspective," IZA Discussion Papers 1468, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Catherine J. Weinberger, 2018. "Engineering Educational Opportunity: Impacts of 1970s and 1980s Policies to Increase the Share of Black College Graduates with a Major in Engineering or Computer Science," NBER Chapters, in: US Engineering in a Global Economy, pages 87-128, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Debayan Pakrashi & Paul Frijters, 2017. "Migration and Discrimination in Urban China: A Decomposition Approach," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(4), pages 821-840, December.
    10. Wolf, Marianne McGarry & Qenani-Petrela, Eivis, 2004. "An Examination of Gender Wage Differences Among Graduates of the Agribusiness Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20412, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    11. Hamermesh, Daniel S. & Donald, Stephen G., 2008. "The effect of college curriculum on earnings: An affinity identifier for non-ignorable non-response bias," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 479-491, June.
    12. Daniel S. Hamermesh & Stephen G. Donald, 2004. "The Effect of College Curriculum on Earnings: Accounting for Non-Ignorable Non-Response Bias," NBER Working Papers 10809, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Wayne A. Grove & Andrew Hussey & Michael Jetter, 2011. "The Gender Pay Gap Beyond Human Capital: Heterogeneity in Noncognitive Skills and in Labor Market Tastes," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 46(4), pages 827-874.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eide, Eric & Waehrer, Geetha, 1998. "The Role of the Option Value of College Attendance in College Major Choice," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 73-82, February.
    2. Grove, Wayne A. & Hussey, Andrew, 2014. "Returns to MBA quality: Pecuniary and non-pecuniary returns to peers, faculty, and institution quality," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 43-54.
    3. Julian Betts & Christopher Ferrall & Ross Finnie, 2013. "The Role of University Characteristics in Determining Post-Graduation Outcomes: Panel Evidence from Three Canadian Cohorts," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 39(s1), pages 81-106, May.
    4. Ferrall, Christopher & Betts, Julian & Finnie, Ross, 2007. "L'incidence des caracteristiques d'une universite sur les resultats professionnels apres le diplome : temoignages de trois cohortes canadiennes recemment diplomees," Direction des études analytiques : documents de recherche 2007292f, Statistics Canada, Direction des études analytiques.
    5. Katja Görlitz & Barbara S. Grave, 2012. "Wage Differentials by Field of Study – The Case of German University Graduates," Ruhr Economic Papers 0316, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    6. repec:zbw:rwirep:0316 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Barbara S. Grave & Katja Goerlitz, 2012. "Wage differentials by field of study -- the case of German university graduates," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 284-302, March.
    8. Joseph G. Altonji & Peter Arcidiacono & Arnaud Maurel, 2015. "The Analysis of Field Choice in College and Graduate School: Determinants and Wage Effects," NBER Working Papers 21655, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Deborah M. Weiss & Matthew L. Spitzer & Colton Cronin & Neil Chin, 2024. "Why college majors and selectivity matter: Major groupings, occupation specificity, and job skills," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(2), pages 278-304, April.
    10. Thomas Buser & Muriel Niederle & Hessel Oosterbeek, 2014. "Gender, Competitiveness, and Career Choices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(3), pages 1409-1447.
    11. Garcia, Rene & Bonomo, Marco, 2001. "Tests of conditional asset pricing models in the Brazilian stock market," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 71-90, February.
    12. Sharron Xuanren Wang & Arthur Sakamoto, 2021. "Can Higher Education Ameliorate Racial/Ethnic Disadvantage? An Analysis of the Wage Assimilation of College-Educated Hispanic Americans," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, April.
    13. Finnie, Ross & Frenette, Marc, 2003. "Earning differences by major field of study: evidence from three cohorts of recent Canadian graduates," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 179-192, April.
    14. Long, Mark C., 2010. "Changes in the returns to education and college quality," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 338-347, June.
    15. Arcidiacono, Peter & Hotz, V. Joseph & Kang, Songman, 2012. "Modeling college major choices using elicited measures of expectations and counterfactuals," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 166(1), pages 3-16.
    16. Sang-Hyop Lee, 2005. "Generalists and Specialists, Ability and Earnings," Working Papers 200502, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    17. John Eric Humphries & Juanna Joensen & Gregory Veramendi, 2017. "College Major Choice: Sorting and Differential Returns to Skills," 2017 Meeting Papers 1623, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    18. Doris, Aedín & O’Neill, Donal & Sweetman, Olive, 2013. "Gender, single-sex schooling and maths achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 104-119.
    19. Kelly, Elish & O'Connell, Philip J. & Smyth, Emer, 2010. "The economic returns to field of study and competencies among higher education graduates in Ireland," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 650-657, August.
    20. Ahu Gemici & Matthew Wiswall, 2014. "Evolution Of Gender Differences In Post‐Secondary Human Capital Investments: College Majors," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 55(1), pages 23-56, February.
    21. David Carroll & Chris Heaton & Massimiliano Tani, 2019. "Does It Pay to Graduate from an 'Elite' University in Australia?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 95(310), pages 343-357, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:56:y:2003:i:4:p:606-621. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.