Volume 26, Number 4 (Fall) 1991
Blau, Francine D. and Marianne A. Ferber. 1991. "Career Plans and Expectations of Young Women and Men: The Earnings Gap and Labor Force Participation." Journal of Human Resources 26(4):581-607.
Using detailed information on the career plans and earnings expectations of college business school seniors, we test the hypothesis that women who plan to work intermittently choose jobs with lower rewards to work experience in return for lower penalties for labor force interruptions. We find that while men and women expect similar starting salaries, women anticipate considerably lower earnings in subsequent years, even under the assumption of continuous employment after leaving school. While it is also true that women in the sample plan to work fewer years than men, these differences do not explain the observed gender differences in expected earnings profiles. We also find no evidence that gender differences in expected earnings have any effect on the number of years these women plan to be in the labor market.
Francine Blau is Professor of Economics and Labor and Industrial Relations at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Research Associate of the national Bureau of Economic Research. Marianne Ferber is Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. We are indebted to the Graduate Research Board and the College of Commerce and Business Administration (CBA) Placement Office of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign for financial assistance, and the CBA Dean of Students Office for their generous help with data collection. We are grateful for the helpful comments of Daniel Hammermesh, Lawrence Kahn, Marlene Kim and Case Sprenkle. Thanks are due to Jin-Hwa Jung and Paul Straub for able research assistance. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning March 1992 through March 1995 from Francine D. Blau, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations,504 East Armory, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL 61820.
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