The Gender Pay Gap for College Graduates Begins on Graduation Day

A new report by Glassdoor Economic Research finds that women who are graduating from college will trail men in occupational earnings due to the majors women pursue in college.

The study finds that in the first five years after college women will get paid 11.5 percent less than men. While discrimination and other factors enter into the equation, it appears that a major factor in the gender pay gap is due to occupational field which often is determined by college major. The study found that nine of the top 10 paying majors were male dominated. In contrast, six of the 10 lowest-paying majors are dominated by women.

Andrew Chamberlain, the chief economist at Glassdoor states that “you would expect new grads to find a level playing field when it comes to pay, but they generally don’t. When we isolate by major, pay gaps remain because men and women are sorting into different jobs after graduating – a clear sign of societal pressures and gender norms at play in the career paths of young workers.”

The full report, The Pipeline Problem: How College Majors Contribute to the Gender Pay Gap, may be downloaded here.