Post Secondary Enrolment

and The Wage Gap

Elisa Barnes, Lauren Minuk, and Aliece Robert, Ice Chan
 Concept: GENDER

Issue:
 There is a great disparity between
men’s and women’s wages, and this goes
against the trend that is expected,
since more women graduate with post
secondary degrees than men.
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How will we address these issues?

 We will explore the evidence and statistics

regarding the wage gap issue by looking at
three major explanations:

Women’s participation of going in & out

of the work force
Skill sets and “productivity
characteristics”
The types of majors women choose
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 SOCIOLOGICAL ISSUE

 AffirmativeAction programs have been

implemented throughout Canada and yet
a gendered wage gap persists.

 Despitefeminist movements that

promote equality, the “glass ceiling”
continues to predicate women’s wages.
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 How is our issue related to
lifelong learning?

Participation in lifelong learning in

the form of post-secondary
education (namely university and
college) SHOULD predict wage
patterns in the workforce, but the
opposite seems to be true.
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Association of Universities and
Colleges of Canada

 Full-time male enrolment: 350,000

 Full-time female enrolment: 460,000

 71% of enrolment growth since 1971 is

attributed to females (5)

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 CANADA
Wage of females with Wage of males with
university degree: university degree:

 1995 - $34,760  1995 $54,410 -

 2000 - $38,165  2000 - $61,666

Statistics Canada, 2001. 97F0019XCB20011054, accessed November 2, 2007

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 ALBERTA
Wage of females with Wage of males with
university degree: university degree:

 1995 - $32,732 - $58,331 1995

 2000 - $36,486  2000 - $66,814

Statistics Canada, 2001. 97F0019XCB20011054, accessed November 2, 2007

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Highest degree, certificate or diploma (females in
Canada)
15%
3% 33%

17%

8% 24%
No degree, certificate or diploma
High school graduation certificate
Trades certificate or diploma
College certificate or diploma
University certificate or diploma below bachelor level
University degree

Highest degree, certificate or diploma (males in

Canada)
16%
2% 33%
13%

14%
22%
No degree, certificate or diploma
High school graduation certificate
Trades certificate or diploma
College certificate or diploma
University certificate or diploma below bachelor level
A University degree
Highest degree, certificate or diploma (females in
Alberta)
15%
3% 32%

19%

8% 23%
No degree, certificate or diploma
High school graduation certificate
Trades certificate or diploma
College certificate or diploma
University certificate or diploma below bachelor level
University degree

Highest degree, certificate or diploma (males in

Alberta)
15%
1% 34%
12%

18% 20%
No degree, certificate or diploma
High school graduation certificate
Trades certificate or diploma
College certificate or diploma
University certificate or diploma below bachelor level
A University degree
 Women’s Participation in
the Work Force (O’Neill)

 In1950, 34% of women were in the

labour force, and 61% in 2000
(compared to 75% of men in the labour
force in 2000) (309)
 HOWEVER, even with the rise in
women’s participation in the work force,
there was not a match in the gender gap
in pay. (309)
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 Women’s Participation in
the Work Force (O’Neill)

 Between 1950-1980 the female-to-male ratio

of median annual earnings of full-time workers
was about 60%. (309)
 Thisreached 69% by 1989 and 74% by the
mid 1990’s and has now leveled off. (309)
 In average hourly wage rates, the gap is
smaller, with there being a ratio of 66% in
1979 to 80% in 1993 and then stabilizes.
(309) E
O’Neill, The Gender Gap in Wages, Circa 2000, pg. 310 E
 Women’s Participation in
the Work Force (O’Neill)
 Children,
especially young children
affect the participation of women in
work force dramatically
In 2001, women aged 25-44, 34% with
children under the age of six were out of
the labor force, compared to 16% of women
without children
30% of employed mother worked part-time,
compared to 11% of women with no children
(310)
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 Women’s Participation in
the Work Force (O’Neill)
 Men’s participation is much different
 Only 4% of men with children under the age of six
(2001) were out of the labor force, and among
employed fathers only 2% work part-time (310)

 Thefact that women withdraw from the

workforce more often greatly affects the
type of occupation that women pursue
 These adaptive occupational choices will tend to
lower the market earnings of women relative to
men (310)

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 Participation in the
Work Force (Duncan)
 "A woman's reluctance to move in search
of better job opportunities is linked to
her marital status." (468)
 "Earningsalso increase significantly with
additional hours worked per week for all
groups. Marriage is associated with
higher earnings for men. The lower
earnings for married white women may be
due to less job attachment." (465)

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Current Population Survey (CPS)
O’Neill, The Gender Gap in Wages, Circa 2000, pg. 311

Background:
An American Study with an
analysis that includes part-
time and full-time wage and
salary workers, ages 20-60.

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 Findings from the Current
Population Survey (CPS) (O’Neill)
 According to the Current Population Survey
major changes that have occurred during the
1979-2001 period in the gender differential in
earnings-related characteristics are as follows:
 Women continue to be much more likely than men to
work part-time (19 percent versus 5 percent in 2001),
although that difference narrowed.
 With respect to education, women gained relative to
men at the college level. By 2001 they were somewhat
more likely than men to be college graduates and were
almost as likely to receive a higher degree. (311)
 Duncan supports this by stating that men have less
education on average than women do. (462)
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 CPS (Continued) (O’Neill)

 Women also have been entering occupations

requiring more job-specific skills, as measured
by SVP (specific vocational preparation), the
time required to attain the average level of
proficiency in an occupation.

 The gender gap in SVP declined by almost

half between 1984 and 1994 and has since
declined further, but at a slower rate. (311)

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 CPS (Continued) (O’Neill)
 However,despite these changes, women
and men remain in occupations that are
disproportionately female or male.
In 2001 women, on average, worked in
occupations in which the percentage of
female employees was close to 68 percent;
men worked in occupations that were only
30-percent female. (311)

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Skills Sets: O’Neill (2003) (1 of 2)
 Some occupations require more investment in
skills (such as aerospace engineer, surgeon,
etc.) and due to women entering and exiting
the workforce more frequently, their skills
would depreciate much more quickly in these
occupations, therefore these occupations
tend to have disproportionately fewer women
 Women (particularly mothers) will enter
occupations such as nursing and teaching
because they give applicable life skills
practiced in a variety of different settings
and not occupation specific. (310)

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Skills Sets: O’Neill (2003) (2 of 2)
 Women also choose occupations that are less
demanding and allow them to raise a family.
 This is why part-time work becomes a much more
credible option for women with families to raise.
 Even if women don’t choose part-time work, they
will choose occupations that allow more flexibility and
shorter work weeks.
 Both work attachment and the choice of occupation
are expected to be important determinants of
women's earnings and important factors underlying
the gender wage gap. (310)

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 Skills Sets: Nord (1987)
 Nord’s 1987 study uses women with 1-5 years work
experience (in 1975) as a reference group, expecting
that those women have a superior skill set when
compared to the skill sets (productivity
characteristics) of their older counterparts (51)
 Nord found that the older groups of women would
experience a wage increase if they were equipped
with the same productivity characteristics as the 1-5
years experience sample group (57)
 Nord finds that going to college explains 19.57% of
the wage gap for whites (59) and 65.21% for blacks
(61)
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 Average Hourly Rate Ratios (Black Women/Black Men)

1.6

1.4

1.2
Average Hourly Rate Ratio

Actual/Actual
0.8 Hypothetical/Actual
Hypothetical/Hypothetical

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
A B C D E F
Years of Work Experience

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 Average Hourly Wage Ratios (White women/White men)

1.4

1.2

1
Average Hourly Wage Ratio

0.8
Series1
Series2
Series3
0.6

0.4

0.2

0
A B C D E F
Years of Work Experience

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 Choice of a college major/
fields of study (Ayalon)
 Collegemajors are quite gender
segregated as females major in
mathematics, technology and sciences
less often than males and have a
tendency to concentrate in fields such
as humanities, social sciences and
education, these fields which do not
attract many men. (277)

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 Gender Differences in
Cognitive Skills (Zeher)
 Since the research by Zeher is done in the U.S it
explains that since 1970s the U.S economy has
transformed, math and science abilities have become
more predictive of salaries, and math skills translates
into higher earnings for all types of workers (3)
 Findings does show that the gender gap in income
disappears among professional men and women with
the highest math skills but going back to one’s choice
of major women compared to men are less likely to
choose math, technology and sciences as fields of
study to concentrate in which results in women
lacking skills that are highly needed in the labour
market.

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 Feminization of majors/
fields of study (Zeher)
 Another factor is that certain majors such
humanities, social sciences and education have been
labeled by researchers as “feminine” fields of study
due to the high concentration of females within these
programs.

 As one may expect, field of study contributes to

earnings inequality via occupational choices: People
tend to work in jobs that are related to their fields
of study, and some occupations are better rewarded
than are others. As we see in our case “feminine”
fields of study seem link to jobs that are not as
economic rewarding as “masculine” fields of study.
(14)

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 Selectivity of college (Zeher)
 It has been found that female’s compared to
males are significantly more likely to attend
selective post-secondary institutions. The reason
is a result of institutional bias favoring men,
more selective schools tending not to offer
traditionally female dominated programs. Lastly
parental choices also help explain the gender gap
in income because some parents are found to
invest more financially in sons compared to
daughters. (4)

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 Other Information
to consider (Duncan)
 "White women would need to attend 15 years of school (a
21% increase over the average), or increase their weeks of
work experience to 380 weeks (a 105% increase over the
average) to earn the same as white men.  Black women would
need to increase their education to 19 years (150% increase
over the average), or to increase weeks worked to 430 (a
154% increase) to bring their average earnings in live with
those of the average white male." (466)
 Human Capital Theory suggests that education and on the job
training are complimentary. (458)
 "Women, entering the labour market in the 1980s, may have
invested in more education with the intention of pursuing
further training on-the-job, but market discrimination may
prevent them from experiencing the same wage growth
experienced by men." (468)

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 Other Information to consider
Women in Engineering (Morgan)
 Economically when looking at women engineers
we see that earning penalties exist more for
when they started their careers (age), not
the length of their careers, in the findings it
shows that women engineers who started
careers later have higher earnings than those
who started earlier. Meaning gender earning
penalties are the result of cohort rather than
glass ceiling effects. (487)

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 Women in Engineering (Morgan)
 Anastonishing finding by Morgan is that the
gender wage gap for female engineers is
narrowing even to the point that it disappears.
(chart on next slide will support this finding)
 One process is a pure cohort effect in which
the older cohort entered the profession at a
large disadvantage and continue to face the
disadvantage. One these disadvantages links
directly to gender discrimination within the
workplace. (491)

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(Morgan, 487) I
 Women in Engineering (Morgan)
 Initialwomen entrants to the
profession face more discrimination, are
promoted more slowly, and thus have
lower wage growth then men.
Advantages are seen for younger
workers as employers learn more about
women engineers, discrimination
declines, and thus younger cohorts of
women are less likely to be denied
promotions and higher earnings.(491)
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 Our Conclusions
 The wage gap seems to be narrowing
 Though women graduate more frequently than men
NOW, men still hold more degrees, so the wage gap
makes sense still. Change takes time, so we’ll have to
wait and see if the wage gap disappears in the (near)
future
 All of our evidence (and each of our three “theories”)
seems to point to the fact that younger women (those
“fresh” to the workforce) are in a much better
position to make the same wages as men than their
older counterparts

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 Something to Think about
 "Forexample, in analyzing family job relocation
decisions Bielby and Bielby (1992) find that a
husband's potential loss from a move deters a
wife from pursuing and realizing opportunities at
a new location.  However, a wife's potential loss
does not have the same effect on a husband's
decision. Relocation plays an important role in
upward career mobility. Reluctance to move may
deprive highly educated women of jobs with
steeper wage profiles." (Duncan, 468)

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 References
 Ayalon, Hanna. (2003) Women and Men Go to University: Mathematical
Background and Gender Differences in Choice of Field in Higher Education.
Sex Roles, Vol. 48, Nos. 5/6. 277-290

 Duncan, K. (1996) Gender Differences in the Effect of Education on the Slope of

experience-Earnings Profiles: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979-
1988. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 55:4. 457-471.

 Morgan, Laurie A. (1998) Glass-Ceiling Effect or Cohort Effect? A Longitudinal

Study of the Gender Earnings Gap for Engineers, 1982 to 1989. American
Sociological Review, Vol. 63, No. 4. 479-493.

 Nord, S. (1987). Productivity and the role of college in narrowing the male-
female wage differential in the USA in 1980. Applied Economics, 19, 51-67.

 O’Neill, J. (2003) The Gender Gap in Wages, Circa 2000. The American Economic
Review, Vol. 93, No. 2, Papers and Proceedings of the One Hundred
Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association,
Washington, DC, January 3-5, 2003. 309-314.
 Zeher-Bobbitt, D. The Gender Income Gap and the Role of Education. Sociology
of Education 2007, Vol. 80 (January) 1–22
 References
 Statistics Canada. (2003) “Earnings of Canadians,
2001 Census.” Catalogue number:
97F0019XIE2001054. Retrieved November 2,
2007. http://
www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno
=97F0019X2001054.

 Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada

(2007) Trends in higher education – Volume 1:
Enrolment. Ottawa: AUCC Retrieved September
29, 2007
http://www.aucc.ca/_pdf/english/publications/trends_200
. 4-8.