Volume 19, Number 3 (Summer) 1984
Daymont, Thomas N., and Paul J. Andrisani. 1984. “Job Preferences, College Major and the Gender Gap in Earnings.” Journal of Human Resources 19(3):408-428.
Work preferences and preparation (college major) are included in an analysis of the gender differential in earnings among recent college graduates, using data from the National Longitudinal Studies of the High School Class of 1972. The results indicate a tendency for the young men and young women in the sample to prefer different occupational roles and to major in different fields of study in college. Together, these differences account for about one-third to two-thirds of the gender gap in hourly earnings three years after college graduation. This indicates that omission of work preferences and college major leads to an overestimation of the degree of current labor market discrimination against young female college graduates.
The authors are, respectively, Assistant Professor and Professor of Industrial Relations and Organizational Behavior, Temple University. We would like to thank Randall Filer, Michael Leeds, Lois Shaw, and two anonymous reviewers as well as participants of workshops at Columbia University and Temple University for helpful comments on earlier drafts. The opinions expressed and any errors are our responsibility.
© 2003 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
US ISSN 0022-166X