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

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Author Info
Pouliakas, Konstantinos
Livanos, Ilias

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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 (2000-2004) 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-Ransom decompositions subsequently imply that gender differences in the type of degree studied can explain an additional 22.5% of the male-female pay gap in Greece. Risk-augmented earnings functions also indicate that Greek women seek for less risky educations that consequently command lower wage premiums in the job market. The findings of the paper suggest that the promotion of gender equality in Greece should pay attention to the educational choices of men and women prior to them entering the labour market, via efficient career counselling and educational reforms that heed to the signals of the labour market.

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Paper provided by University Library of Munich, Germany in its series MPRA Paper with number 10036.

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Date of creation: 14 Aug 2008
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Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:10036

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Related research
Keywords: Gender wage gap subject of degree returns risk Greece

Find related papers by 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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  5. Magoula, Theocharoula & Psacharopoulos, George, 1999. "Schooling and Monetary Rewards in Greece: An Over-Education False Alarm?," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 31(12), pages 1589-97, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Psacharopoulos, George, 1994. "Returns to investment in education: A global update," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(9), pages 1325-1343, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Oaxaca, Ronald L. & Ransom, Michael R., 1994. "On discrimination and the decomposition of wage differentials," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 5-21, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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