Gender Pay Gap Similar Among Certificate Degree Graduates and Those from Highly Selective Bachelors Degree Programs But

The gender wage gap — the difference between what men and women earn — is an often-cited marker of the progress women are making in the work force typically measured by comparing the average earnings of men and women.

Previous U.S. Census Bureau research has explored the gender wage gap and how it varies with social, economic and demographic characteristics.

Now, new U.S. Census Bureau research takes it a step further by comparing male and female earnings for graduates of similar educational programs. Rather than comparing male and female wages and controlling for education, it looks at the earnings of men and women with the same level and quality of education.

This research provides new information about the gender pay gap across a range of postsecondary education levels from graduates of the most selective bachelor programs to graduates of certificate programs.

After accounting for differences in choice of major, the share of the gap due to occupation and industry chosen was nearly the same regardless of education level.

The Census Bureau analyzed the earnings of graduates from certificate, associate and bachelor’s programs for up to 15 years. It estimated the magnitude of the earnings gap at these educational levels and three factors that may contribute to it: field of study; occupation and industry after graduation; and number of weeks and hours worked in a year.

This research was made possible by a partnership between the Census Bureau and state higher education systems, which provided student transcript records that can be linked to other datasets.

In this case, the student records were linked to the American Community Survey (ACS) to gauge post-graduation outcomes such as earnings, occupation, childbearing, and the number of weeks and hours worked. The ACS is the premier source of detailed population and housing information about our nation.

Researchers analyzed the gender pay gap using a statistical model that answered the following questions for each degree level considered:

• How large was the gap between men’s and women’s earnings, on average?
• How much of this gap was driven by women and men majoring in different fields?
• Among women and men with the same education level who graduated in the same field, how much of the gap stemmed from women and men working in different occupations and industries?
• Among men and women with the same education level, who graduated in the same field and worked in the same occupation, how much of the gap was caused by women and men participating in the workforce at different rates and working different numbers of weeks and hours-per-week during the year?
• How much of the gender pay gap was due to other factors?

Answers differed considerably depending on whether someone graduated from a certificate or selective bachelor’s program.

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