Poorly paid jobs or study fields? Gender pay gap of tertiary-educated employees in contemporary European labour markets

Abstract:This article examines the reasons for gender-based income inequalities of tertiary-educated people in European labour markets. In the 50 years since the adoption of the anti-discrimination law in many countries, several explanations for gender-based income inequalities have been proposed. Following a literature review, the author presents two hypotheses concerning the lower female income. Even after two massive expansions of the tertiary level of education, there are still male- and female-dominated fields of study. Hence, the first hypothesis suggests that women tend to enrol in less lucrative study fields. The second hypothesis proposes that women – regardless of their university study field – tend to work in less lucrative occupations. Using data from the European Union Labour Force Survey 2016 for 28 member countries, the author first confirms that women are structurally selected to different parts of the education system (i.e., different fields of study), and to different occupations. In the second part of the analysis, the author tests both hypotheses: gender segregation in the field of study has no negative impact on income, but the gender segregation of the occupation strongly impacts income. Therefore, the author rejects the first hypothesis, supports the second hypothesis, and concludes that – in contemporary European societies – income differences arise not in the education system but in the labour market.