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The Gender Wage Gap as a Function of Educational Degree Choices in Greece

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  • Pouliakas, Konstantinos
  • Livanos, Ilias

Abstract

This study investigates the extent to which differences in the subject of degree studied by male and female university graduates contributes to the gender pay gap in Greece. The case of Greece is interesting as it is an EU country with historically large gender discrepancies in earnings and one of the highest levels of occupational gender segregation among OECD economies. Using micro-data from the most recently available waves (2000-2003) of the Greek Labour Force Survey (LFS), the returns to academic disciplines are firstly estimated by gender. It is found that the subjects in which women are relatively over-represented (e.g. Education, Humanities) are also those with the lowest amortization in terms of wage returns. Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions subsequently imply that gender differences in the type of degree studied can explain an additional 8.4% of the male-female pay gap in Greece. Risk-augmented earnings functions (Hartog, 2006) indicate that Greek women seek for less risky educations that consequently command lower wage premiums in the job market.

Suggested Citation

  • Pouliakas, Konstantinos & Livanos, Ilias, 2008. "The Gender Wage Gap as a Function of Educational Degree Choices in Greece," MPRA Paper 14168, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 19 Mar 2009.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:14168
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Essam Hussain Al-Lawati & Renjith Kumar. R & Radhakrishnan Subramaniam, 2017. "An Empirical Study on Factors Influencing Business Students’ Choice of Specialization with Reference to Nizwa College of Technology, Oman," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(9), pages 177-187, September.
    2. Noe', Chiara, 2009. "Subject of degree and the gender wage gap: Evidence from Italy," MPRA Paper 47289, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Livanos, Ilias & Pouliakas, Konstantinos, 2008. "Returns to education by academic discipline in the Greek labour market," MPRA Paper 14159, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender wage gap; subject of degree; educational choices; returns; risk; Greece;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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