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Community College Enrollment, College Major, and the Gender Wage Gap

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  • Andrew M. Gill
  • Duane E. Leigh

Abstract

The literature on the narrowing of the gender wage gap during the 1980s considers, among other factors, the closing of the male-female differential in post-secondary education. This paper looks specifically at the role played by the dramatic relative increase in women's enrollment in two-year colleges. With independent cross-sections developed using NLSY data, the authors find that the gender wage gap narrowed by 0.0469 log points between 1985 and 1990 and by 0.0932 log points between 1989 and 1994. The more pronounced decrease observed for 1989–94 is largely explained by erosion of male-female differences in weeks worked, job tenure, and full-time employment. A more novel finding is evidence that while change in the quantity of education provides essentially no explanatory power, disaggregating education by two-year and four-year providers and by major field of study accounts for 8.5–11% of the closing of the wage gap over the 1989–94 period.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew M. Gill & Duane E. Leigh, 2000. "Community College Enrollment, College Major, and the Gender Wage Gap," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 54(1), pages 163-181, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:54:y:2000:i:1:p:163-181
    DOI: 10.1177/001979390005400109
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Duane E. Leigh & Andrew M. Gill, 1997. "Labor Market Returns to Community Colleges: Evidence for Returning Adults," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(2), pages 334-353.
    2. Blau, Francine D & Kahn, Lawrence M, 1997. "Swimming Upstream: Trends in the Gender Wage Differential in 1980s," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 1-42, January.
    3. Thomas J. Kane & Cecilia E. Rouse, 1993. "Labor Market Returns to Two- And Four-Year College: Is a Credit a Credit And Do Degrees Matter?," Working Papers 690, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    4. Thomas J. Kane & Cecilia Elena Rouse, 1999. "The Community College: Educating Students at the Margin between College and Work," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 63-84, Winter.
    5. Thomas J. Kane & Cecilia Rouse, 1993. "Labor Market Returns to Two- And Four-Year College: Is A Credit a Credit And Do Degrees Matter?," Working Papers 690, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    6. Thomas J. Kane & Cecilia E. Rouse, 1993. "Labor Market Returns to Two- and Four-Year Colleges: Is a Credit a Credit and Do Degrees Matter?," NBER Working Papers 4268, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Paul Osterman & Rosemary Batt, 1993. "Employer-centered training for international competitiveness: Lessons from state programs," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(3), pages 456-477.
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    Cited by:

    1. Böckerman, Petri & Hämäläinen, Ulla & Uusitalo, Roope, 2009. "Labour market effects of the polytechnic education reform: The Finnish experience," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 672-681, December.
    2. Lisa Giddings, 2003. "Continued decline for ethnic minorities in the transition?," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 11(4), pages 621-648, December.
    3. Michael J. Rizzo, 2005. "The public interest in higher education," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 19-45.
    4. Somayeh Parvazian & Judith Gill & Belinda Chiera, 2017. "Higher Education, Women, and Sociocultural Change: A Closer Look at the Statistics," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(2), pages 21582440177, May.
    5. Joshua D. Pitts & Charles Kroncke, 2014. "Educational Attainment and the Gender Wage Gap: A Comparison of Young Men and Women in 1984 and 2007," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(2), pages 123-155, August.
    6. Ann L. Owen & Elizabeth J. Jensen, 2008. "Social Learning and Course Choice," International Review of Economic Education, Economics Network, University of Bristol, vol. 7(1), pages 9-35.
    7. Milagros Nores, 2010. "Differences in College Major Choice by Citizenship Status," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 627(1), pages 125-141, January.
    8. Paola Belingheri & Filippo Chiarello & Andrea Fronzetti Colladon & Paola Rovelli, 2021. "Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicatorr," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-27, September.
    9. Yana van der Meulen Rodgers & Joseph Zveglich & Laura Wherry, 2006. "Gender Differences In Vocational School Training And Earnings Premiums In Taiwan," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 527-560.
    10. Alfano Vincenzo & Cicatiello Lorenzo & Gaeta Giuseppe Lucio & Pinto Mauro, 2021. "The Gender Wage Gap among Ph.D. Holders: Evidence from Italy," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(3), pages 1107-1148, July.
    11. Konstantopoulos, Spyros & Constant, Amelie F., 2005. "The Gender Gap Reloaded: Is School Quality Linked to Labor Market Performance?," IZA Discussion Papers 1830, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. J. Farley Ordovensky Staniec, 2004. "The Effects of Race, Sex, and Expected Returns on the Choice of College Major," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 549-562, Fall.
    13. Darwin Miller, 2007. "Isolating the Causal Impact of Community College Enrollment on Educational Attainment and Labor Market Outcomes in Texas," Discussion Papers 06-033, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    14. Jepsen, Christopher, 2008. "Multinomial probit estimates of college completion at 2-year and 4-year schools," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 155-160, February.
    15. Lisa Giddings, 2002. "Changes in gender earnings differentials in Bulgaria's transition to a mixed-market economy," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 481-497, Fall.
    16. Ekström, Erika, 2003. "Earnings effects of adult secondary education in Sweden," Working Paper Series 2003:16, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.

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