Study looked at recent graduates in the Maritimes, found women earn 78 cents on the dollar
Female university graduates in the Maritimes are earning three-quarters of what their male counterparts earn, according to a new study.
It found that two years after graduation from university, female graduates working full-time hours earned 78 per cent of the weekly wage of male graduates, even after controlling for differences in field of study, occupation, location and number of hours worked per week.
That was the key finding of the The Gender Gap in Employment Outcomes of University Graduates, a study by the Maritime Provinces High Education Commission.
“We conducted this analysis to identify the factors contributing to this gap,” said Mireille Duguay, CEO of the commission. “What we found was that much of this wage gap may be explained by underlying factors such as the different choices men and women make in the field of study, which in turn influences occupational choices and therefore earnings.”
And while on average a university education translates into higher wages, particularly for women, the study confirms that, even among university graduates, women still earn less than men, said Duguay.
The report also found that, while men and women were equally likely to be employed, women were somewhat less likely to be employed full-time or to have a permanent position. Duguay said women are underrepresented in some of the more professionally oriented and applied fields such as engineering and applied sciences and mathematics and physical sciences. Those types of fields are associated with a greater likelihood of full-time and permanent employment.
The article is based on data from the commission’s survey of 1999 Maritime university graduates in 2001, exploring the impact of gender on a set of employment outcomes, including labour force attachment, job status, job quality and earnings among graduates who were at the beginning of their careers.
The full article is available online at http://www2.mphec.ca/English/pdfs/TrendsV32004E.pdf.
It found that two years after graduation from university, female graduates working full-time hours earned 78 per cent of the weekly wage of male graduates, even after controlling for differences in field of study, occupation, location and number of hours worked per week.
That was the key finding of the The Gender Gap in Employment Outcomes of University Graduates, a study by the Maritime Provinces High Education Commission.
“We conducted this analysis to identify the factors contributing to this gap,” said Mireille Duguay, CEO of the commission. “What we found was that much of this wage gap may be explained by underlying factors such as the different choices men and women make in the field of study, which in turn influences occupational choices and therefore earnings.”
And while on average a university education translates into higher wages, particularly for women, the study confirms that, even among university graduates, women still earn less than men, said Duguay.
The report also found that, while men and women were equally likely to be employed, women were somewhat less likely to be employed full-time or to have a permanent position. Duguay said women are underrepresented in some of the more professionally oriented and applied fields such as engineering and applied sciences and mathematics and physical sciences. Those types of fields are associated with a greater likelihood of full-time and permanent employment.
The article is based on data from the commission’s survey of 1999 Maritime university graduates in 2001, exploring the impact of gender on a set of employment outcomes, including labour force attachment, job status, job quality and earnings among graduates who were at the beginning of their careers.
The full article is available online at http://www2.mphec.ca/English/pdfs/TrendsV32004E.pdf.
