Gender Pay Gap Begins Shortly After College Graduation, Data Shows
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Here's your Money Briefing for Tuesday, August 9th. I'm J.R.
When does the gender pay gap first appear after college graduation?
Whalen for The Wall Street Journal. We often talk about gender pay disparity in the workforce, but when does that pay gap between men and women pay begin? New research suggests it often begins earlier than you might think, within just a few years of college graduation.
We know that the pay gap tends to widen as people go further into their careers. So if it exists just a couple years out, other research suggests it's likely only going to get worse.
Coming up, we'll talk with our higher education reporter, Melissa Korn, about why pay disparities are showing up so early in people's careers and the fields where the gap is the widest. That's after the break.
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What data set did The Wall Street Journal analyze to measure early pay disparities?
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New research shows that the pay gap between men and women starts soon after they join the workforce. And that's true even for people getting the same degree from the same school. So how wide is the gap in different fields and what's causing it? WSJ reporter Melissa Korn was part of the team that broke down the numbers for us, and she's here with more. Melissa, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. So Melissa, you looked at data the Department of Education collected on about 1.7 million college graduates three years after they entered the workforce. What were your key findings?
The Education Department collected this data from those who participated in the federal loan and grant program, got federal financial aid for school, for undergraduates, graduate students, across the board.
How widespread are pay gaps across degree programs three years after graduation?
The journal broke the data down looking at what men and women from the same degree program at the same college earned. And this is looking at the earnings three years after graduation. And we found that there are fairly significant pay gaps between what men and women earn. pretty much right out of the gate, even for people who went to identical programs. So oftentimes, the gender pay gap is kind of dismissed as, oh, well, that's because certain people study different things. Women are concentrated in certain fields. Men study business. Women study nursing. But it turns out that even within those programs and even for people who were classmates, there is a big gap. So one of the more jaw-dropping stats we came across is that the median pay for men exceeded that for women three years after graduation in nearly three quarters of undergrad and grad degree programs.
And that's looking at more than 11,000 programs at about 2,000 universities.
Now, in what fields was the gender gap the widest? And where did the research show the pay gap is narrow?
Some of the fields where men earn more than women Median earnings three years out include nursing, accounting, business, marketing, criminal justice, health and phys ed, biology, psychology. Those are for the undergraduate majors.
In which undergraduate fields do men earn significantly more than women three years out?
So really, it is just across the board. In some cases, it's a difference of $5,000 or $10,000. And in some cases, it's tens of thousands of dollars.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:39
2
When does the gender pay gap first appear after college graduation?
0:39–1:21
3
What data set did The Wall Street Journal analyze to measure early pay disparities?
1:21–2:36
4
How widespread are pay gaps across degree programs three years after graduation?
2:36–3:58
5
In which undergraduate fields do men earn significantly more than women three years out?
3:58–6:10
6
Which majors show women out-earning men or near pay parity early in their careers?
6:10–8:27
7
Does the Department of Education data only capture earnings at the three-year mark?
8:27–10:05
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from WSJ Your Money Briefing
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