The Dynamics of the Gender Earnings Gap for College Educated Workers: The Child Earnings Penalty, Job Mobility, and Field of Study

Aedín Doris, Donal O'Neill and Olive Sweetman ()
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Olive Sweetman: Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting, Maynooth University.

Economics Department Working Paper Series from Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth

Abstract: TThis paper uses a rich set of administrative data to examine the dynamics of the gender earnings gap for college graduates from 2010-2020 in Ireland. We focus on the dynamics of the gap in the first 10 years of the working career, what this looks like, what determines it and what can explain the patterns. We examine the extent to which changes in job mobility after childbirth can explain the dynamics of the gender earnings gap across fields of study. Our findings suggest that the fact that men experience much higher earnings gains than women, particularly within jobs, is the key driver behind the observed earnings divergence. This is particularly evident among women who have studied Business or Law in University. Changes in job mobility after childbirth are not a major contributor to the divergence in earnings but analysis of household survey data suggests that reductions in hours of work following childbirth explains approximately 60% of the initial decline in female weekly earnings and much of the male-female earnings gap in the years after childbirth.

Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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