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Early Gender Gaps Among University Graduates

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  • Francesconi, Marco
  • Parey, Matthias

Abstract

We use data from six cohorts of university graduates in Germany to assess the extent of gender gaps in college and labor market performance twelve to eighteen months after graduation. Men and women enter college in roughly equal numbers, but more women than men complete their degrees. Women enter college with slightly better high school grades, but women leave university with slightly lower marks. Immediately following university completion, male and female full-timers work very similar number of hours per week, but men earn more than women across the pay distribution, with an unadjusted gender gap in full-time monthly earnings of about 20 log points on average. Including a large set of controls reduces the gap to 5-10 log points. The single most important proximate factor that explains the gap is field of study at university.

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  • Francesconi, Marco & Parey, Matthias, 2018. "Early Gender Gaps Among University Graduates," CEPR Discussion Papers 12754, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12754
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    5. Briel, Stephanie & Osikominu, Aderonke & Pfeifer, Gregor & Reutter, Mirjam & Satlukal, Sascha, 2020. "Overconfidence and Gender Differences in Wage Expectations," IZA Discussion Papers 13517, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    8. Adamus, Magdalena & Mikušková, Eva Ballová, 2020. "Gender-based wage discrimination and the backlash effect in recruitment and dismissal processes Experimental evidence from Slovakia," OSF Preprints 4y6uc, Center for Open Science.
    9. Mcnally, Sandra, 2020. "Gender differences in tertiary education: what explains STEM participation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108232, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Lukas Kiessling & Pia Pinger & Philipp Seegers & Jan Bergerhoff, 2019. "Gender Differences in Wage Expectations: Sorting, Children, and Negotiation Styles," CESifo Working Paper Series 7827, CESifo.
    11. Paul David Boll & Lukas Mergele & Larissa Zierow, 2022. "The gender pay gap in university student employment," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(4), pages 2253-2313, October.
    12. Doris Weichselbaumer & Juliane Ransmayr, 2022. "The role of sex segregation in the gender wage gap among university graduates in Germany," Economics working papers 2022-12, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    13. Jessica Ordemann & Friedhelm Pfeiffer, 2022. "The evolution of educational wage differentials for women and men in Germany, from 1996 to 2019," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 56(1), pages 1-12, December.
    14. Stephanie Briel & Aderonke Osikominu & Gregor Pfeifer & Mirjam Reutter & Sascha Satlukal, 2022. "Gender differences in wage expectations: the role of biased beliefs," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 187-212, January.
    15. Panagiotis Arsenis & Miguel Flores, 2022. "Do professional year placements matter for job quality? The case of economics graduates," School of Economics Discussion Papers 0922, School of Economics, University of Surrey.
    16. Nguyen, Ha Trong & Brinkman, Sally & Le, Huong Thu & Zubrick, Stephen R. & Mitrou, Francis, 2022. "Gender differences in time allocation contribute to differences in developmental outcomes in children and adolescents," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    17. Cozzi, Guido & Francesconi, Marco & Lundberg, Shelly & Mantovan, Noemi & Sauer, Robert M., 2018. "Advancing the economics of gender: New insights and a roadmap for the future," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 1-8.
    18. Neyer, Ulrike & Stempel, Daniel, 2021. "Gender discrimination, inflation, and the business cycle," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    19. Combet, Benita & Oesch, Daniel, 2019. "The Gender Wage Gap Opens Long before Motherhood. Panel Evidence on Early Careers in Switzerland," SocArXiv sazxj, Center for Open Science.
    20. Camilo Andrés Garzón-Correa & Atilio Bustos-González & Melisa López-Hernández & Eduardo Calderón & Oscar Cespedes, 2022. "Challenges and Difficulties in Implementing an Income-Contingent-Financing Model in Higher Education in Colombia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-14, July.
    21. Tromp, Nikolas & Kwak, Juwon, 2022. "Graduating to a gender wage gap in South Korea," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Field of study; gender wage gap; Germany; University graduates;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • 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

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