The American Association of University Women published a study “Graduating to a Pay Gap: The Earnings of Women and Men One Year after College Graduation“ (pdf) looking at approximately 15,000 graduates to estimate the effect of gender on wages. The conclusion: occupations like nursing, engineering, and math, computer, and physical science occupations are the best-paying jobs for women one year out of college and tend to be well paying throughout a career.
Outside of those professions, the picture is not so good. The study explored the pay gap between male and female college graduates working full time one year after graduation. Since this group of workers were of similar age, education, and family responsibilities they expected the pay gap to be small or nonexistent. But, on the average, women one year out of college who were working full time earned just 82 percent of what their male peers earned.
They found that college major is an important factor driving pay differences. Men are more likely than women to major in fields like engineering and computer science, which typically lead to higher-paying jobs, while women are more likely to major in fields like education and the social sciences, which typically lead to lower-paying jobs. But a pay gap exists even between women and men who majored in the same field. Even after controlling for hours worked, occupation, college major, employment sector, and other factors associated with pay, the pay gap shrinks but does not disappear. Among business majors, for example, women earned just over $38,000, while men earned just over $45,000.
Women who are looking for the most lucrative fields with the narrowest pay gap need to pay attention to the salaries associated with college majors and occupations and understand the long-term financial implications of those decisions. Here's a link to chart of employment rates and salaries compiled by the Wall Street Journal.
