AEA Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
The Gender Wage Gap: Skills, Sorting, and Returns
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 114,
May 2024
(pp. 259–64)
Abstract
There is a large gender wage gap among college graduates. This gender gap could be partially driven by differences in college major and prior skills. We use Swedish register data to study how much of the gender gap can be explained by differences in majors, skills, and skill prices. College majors explain 60 percent of the gender wage gap, but large gaps remain within majors. We find that within-major wage gaps are driven by neither differences in multidimensional skills nor returns to these skills. In fact, women are positively selected in terms of college preparation and skills in almost every major.Citation
Humphries, John Eric, Juanna Schrøter Joensen, and Gregory F. Veramendi. 2024. "The Gender Wage Gap: Skills, Sorting, and Returns." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 114: 259–64. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20241026Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I23 Higher Education; Research Institutions
- I26 Returns to Education
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials