Occupational differences between recent male and female college graduates

Occupational difference by gender is a key feature of the labor market. While this is less true of college graduates than other groups, even among them men and women are concentrated in different occupations. While differences in occupations for college graduates are often attributed to college major, few tests of this hypothesis have been conducted. Using the National Center for Education Statistics Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study 1993/94, this paper explores the role of gender differences in college major in accounting for occupational differences in first-jobs among recent college graduates. Key results show that gender differences in college major and selected job choice variables explain a significant portion of gender differences in engineering computer. medical, teaching, and service occupations. Gender differences in the returns to these factors account for much of gender differences in clerical, management, labor, and service occupations. If women had the same returns to factors as men, occupational differences would be diminished by half. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.