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Gender wage gaps by college major in Taiwan: Empirical evidence from the 1997-2003 Manpower Utilization Survey

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  • Lin, Eric S.

Abstract

In this article, we examine the effect of incorporating the fields of study on the explained and unexplained components of the standard Oaxaca decomposition for the gender wage gaps in Taiwan using 1997-2003 Manpower Utilization Survey data. Using several existing and lately developed measures, we inspect the gender wage gap by college major to investigate whether gender wage discrimination exists in a specific field of study in Taiwan. We find that controlling for the major dummies does enhance the proportion of the characteristic effects in the Oaxaca-type decomposition. This finding is similar to those results found in western countries. However, using decomposition methods designed to assess within sector wage gaps, we find gender wage differences are statistically negligible in all majors except medicine. Our results can provide useful information on the economic returns to different disciplines to current and future college students, institutions, and government policy-makers.

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  • Lin, Eric S., 2010. "Gender wage gaps by college major in Taiwan: Empirical evidence from the 1997-2003 Manpower Utilization Survey," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 156-164, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:29:y:2010:i:1:p:156-164
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    Cited by:

    1. Castagnetti, Carolina & Rosti, Luisa, 2010. "Gender stereotyping and wage discrimination among Italian graduates," MPRA Paper 26685, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Cepeda Emiliani, Laura & Barón, Juan D., 2012. "Educational Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap for Recent College Graduates in Colombia," IZA Discussion Papers 6361, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. repec:gdk:wpaper:19 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Chuang, Hwei-Lin & Lin, Eric S. & Chiu, Shih-Yung, 2018. "The gender wage gap in the financial industry: Evidence from the interindustry ranking," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 246-258.
    5. Myeong-Su Yun & Eric S. Lin, 2015. "Alternative Estimator for Industrial Gender Wage Gaps: A Normalized Regression Approach," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(4), pages 569-587, October.
    6. Eleonora Matteazzi & Ariane Pailhé & Anne Solaz, 2013. "Does Part-Time Employment Widen the Gender Wage Gap? Evidence from Twelve European Countries," Working Papers 293, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    7. Carolina Castagnetti & Luisa Rosti, 2012. "Unfair tournaments: gender stereotyping and wage discrimination among Italian graduates," DEM Working Papers Series 010, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management.

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