College Education, Employment Divergences, and the Gender Wage Gap

• In Event: 40820 - Section on Sociology of Sex and Gender Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 13: Gender and Education

Abstract

Gender and workplace stratification literatures consistently highlight wage inequalities for
women compared to men. While partly due to occupational segregation and the devaluation of
women’s work, these inequalities may also be sequential, tied to post-secondary educational
backgrounds and divergences in labor market attachment over time. Drawing on NLSY97 data, I
uniquely analyze gender wage disparities, field of study in college, and the impact of labor
market attachment and detachment. Findings reveal significant differences across college majors:
applied non-STEM and applied STEM degrees appear to be tied to stronger labor market
attachment, yet women benefit less from applied non-STEM degrees compared to men—an
inequality likely related to the concentration of women in care-centered majors. Although
applied STEM degrees offer comparable advantages to men and women, women’s significant
underrepresentation in such fields means that these advantages are disproportionately realized by
men. Further analysis of wage gaps reveals that: (1) wage disparities across college majors can
be partially explained by divergent degree of labor market attachment after earning a bachelor’s
degree, and (2) earnings gains associated with greater labor market attachment are nearly double
for men what they are for women. I conclude by discussing these patterns and what they mean
for gendered labor market disparities, but also for conceptions of education-labor market
connections.

Authors

• Mei-Yu Kuo, The Ohio State University

• Vincent J. Roscigno, The Ohio State University