The New Bachelor’s Degree? Postgraduate Earnings and the Gender Wage Gap in Canada

• In Event: 4451 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 min): Table 19: Higher Education: Unequal Outcomes

Abstract

The last few decades have witnessed a considerable growth in postgraduate education. An important factor contributing to this growth has been the belief that postgraduate education is the “new bachelor’s degree”, helping recent graduates distinguish themselves and yielding better employment outcomes than those with a bachelor’s degree. This growth in postgraduate education has also been gendered, with women making considerable gains in higher education. What remains unclear is whether postgraduate education improves employment and earnings beyond a bachelor’s degree, if there are gender differences in returns to higher education, and whether the gender wage gap ameliorates at the highest levels of education. It is also unclear how these processes have changed over time. We answer these questions using data from the 1981 to 2016 Canadian Census, as well as six cohorts of data from the 1986 to 2010 National Graduate Survey. We find large wage premiums for holding a postgraduate degree, especially at initial labour market entry; however, within cohorts this wage premium declines with duration in the labour market. Returns to postgraduate education for young and middle-aged adults has decreased over time, especially for men. Women earn less than men across all levels of education but there appears to be an attenuation of the gender wage gap at the doctorate level in recent years. Differences in hours worked, occupation, and field of study explain the greatest portion of women’s lower earnings across all levels of education. Gender differences in returns to marriage and parenthood have decreased over time and are weaker at the highest levels of education.

Authors

• Anthony Jehn, University of Western Ontario

• Sean Waite, University of Western Ontario