The discussion of pay differences across gender is a hot topic. We addressed this topic recently in a project with the New York Times Economix Blog, as well as in our own data package on the gender wage gap. In these studies, we controlled for compensable factors (experience, education, specialty, company size, etc.) across men and women and find the gender wage gap to be 94%, which is much narrower than the oft quoted 77 cents to the dollar.

One reason the National Committee on Pay Equity finds a pay gap of 77% is they don't control for major or job choice and instead compare differences in the national median salaries of men and women.

However, choice of degree type and college major play a large role in determining national pay differences across men and women. Simply put, women tend to choose majors that pay a lower national median pay.

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Common Majors by Gender

In a previous blog post we looked at the percentage of men and women who chose Engineering and Education as their major in response to the American Association of University Women’s (AAUW) study of the gender pay gap. They found Engineering (median pay of $75,000/year) to be male dominated, while Education (median pay of $42,000/year) is dominated by female majors. Therefore, differences in major choice can greatly affect the national pay gap.

In an updated research project, we determined 15 common majors for men, 15 common majors for women and 15 common majors with roughly equal numbers of men and women graduates. Similar to AAUW, we find women tend to major in various Design/Art majors, Education, Nursing, and Public Relations, while men tend to major in Engineering, Finance, Computer Science, and Economics. Majors common to both include Accounting, Journalism, Biology, History, English and Mathematics.

Below are two tables detailing the common majors for each gender, the ratio of the specific gender, and the national median pay for those with the major who hold a bachelor’s degree and no higher degrees. (Note: The pay is NOT gender specific).

Common Majors for Women Percent Female National Median Pay Fashion Design 95% $38,900 Interior Design 90% $37,800 Elementary Education 88% $35,800 Social Work 88% $36,100 Nursing 88% $61,200 Occupational Therapy 86% $70,600 French 84% $46,500 Art History 83% $42,700 Medical Technology 79% $54,200 Food and Nutrition 78% $48,000 Spanish 78% $39,600 Health Care Administration 76% $47,500 Public Relations 74% $39,700 Human Resources 72% $45,300 Psychology 72% $40,700

Common Majors for Men Percent Male National Median Pay Construction Management 93% $60,100 Mechanical Engineering 92% $70,400 Electrical Engineering 91% $78,500 Physics 89% $68,100 Aerospace Engineering 87% $67,700 Civil Engineering 85% $63,900 Computer Science 85% $69,700 Landscape Architecture 79% $51,900 Agriculture 77% $50,400 Chemical Engineering 76% $81,400 Geology 76% $60,400 Economics 72% $60,000 Geography 72% $48,100 Sports Management 70% $39,800 Finance 70% $55,000

As the above tables show, men are more likely to choose majors that lead to higher incomes. Only two majors common for women pay a national median pay over $60,000 (Nursing and Occupational Therapy), while 10 of the 15 common majors for men pay at least $60,000. The average pay across all of the common majors for men is $61,700, which is 35% higher than the average pay across the common female majors ($45,600).

Therefore, as women tend to choose majors that lead to lower income, examining national median pay differences for all jobs across genders may just be reflecting these differing major choices. The above pay figures show that women commonly choose majors that come with lower salaries, thus leading (in part) to a lower national median pay for women.

Gender Gap in Pay by Major: Do Men Still Earn More?

As we see above, women commonly choose majors that lead to lower national median pay, which partially explains the gender wage gap. In fact Donna Bobbitt-Zeher, a sociologist at Ohio State University, found the choice of major explained 19 percent of the income gap between college-educated students. However, both of these studies simply discuss the propensity to join a lower-paid major and its associated affect on the pay gap.

What if we look at gender-specific pay by major? Will we still observe a wage gap between men and women within a major? In other words, do female Education majors earn the same, less, or more than male Education majors?

Similar to looking at gender-specific pay by jobs, we examine both median national pay and median national controlled pay across genders. In the latter, we control for outside factors that influence pay within a major (e.g. job choice, experience, company type, etc.). The controlled pay differences allow us to perform a more apples-to-apples comparison of men and women within a major, since we have taken into account all the legitimate (none gender bias) reason one person may be paid more than another.

For example, as we will see below, female math majors earn 79% of what male majors earn. However, that is nearly all explained by different choices of job after graduation and career paths (including time off for child rearing), so women’s controlled median pay (taking these factors into account), is 98% of men’s.

Controlling allows us to perform an “apples to apples” comparison of men and women: all differences in responsibility, experience, education, etc., are taken into account, so that the controlled female median pay represents exactly the same set of qualifications as the controlled male median pay.

Regardless of the type of pay, women generally earn less than men, but the size of the gap greatly diminishes when we control for outside factors. We report three comparisons:

Starting Median Pay (< 5 years of experience): The typical female starting worker earns pay that is 93% of the typical male starting worker. This is not controlled for legitimate outside factors

(< 5 years of experience): The typical female starting worker earns pay that is 93% of the typical male starting worker. This is not controlled for legitimate outside factors National Median Pay (all years of experience): The typical female worker earns pay that is 86% of the typical male worker. This is not controlled for legitimate outside factors.

(all years of experience): The typical female worker earns pay that is 86% of the typical male worker. This is controlled for legitimate outside factors. Controlled Median Pay: The typical female worker earns pay that is 98% of the typical male worker. This is controlled for all legitimate outside factors.

Note that half of employees in each group in the US earn less than the median pay, and half earn more.

On average, the pay gap almost disappears across majors when controlling for outside factors. This is also true when looking at specific majors as well.

Below are three tables displaying the difference in female and male starting median pay, national median pay, and controlled median pay across a subset of common majors.

Starting Median Pay by Gender (Uncontrolled)

Major Female Starting Median Pay Male Starting

Median Pay Ratio of Female to Male Starting Median Pay Accounting $42,600 $48,000 89% Aerospace Engineering $60,200 $59,200 102% Biology $36,500 $41,500 88% Chemistry $40,200 $44,700 90% Civil Engineering $53,400 $54,300 98% Communications $37,200 $41,300 90% Computer Science $49,100 $54,900 89% Criminal Justice $32,600 $39,400 83% Economics $47,400 $50,400 94% Electrical Engineering $57,500 $59,000 97% Elementary Education $32,000 $35,100 91% English $35,900 $40,900 88% History $34,600 $38,500 90% Journalism $36,100 $36,400 99% Marketing $39,500 $44,800 88% Mathematics $44,400 $49,900 89% Mechanical Engineering $58,500 $58,300 100% Nursing $53,700 $56,200 96% Occupational Therapy $62,100 $61,500 101% Sociology $35,400 $38,900 91%

When they are just starting out, women who major in Aerospace Engineering, Occupational Therapy, Mechanical Engineering, Journalism and Civil Engineering earn typical pay that is roughly the same, if not more, than male typical pay.

The largest pay gap in the majors above is for the Criminal Justice major. This may be related to the common jobs chosen by Criminal Justice majors and how they differ across gender. Two common jobs for male Criminal Justice majors are Police or Sheriff’s Patrol Officers (Starting Median Pay: $44,200) and Probation Officers or Correctional Treatment Specialists (Starting Median Pay: $34,000). In comparison, two common jobs for female Criminal Justice majors are Paralegals (Starting Median Pay: $37,400) and Legal Assistants (Starting Median Pay: $30,400).

National Median Pay by Gender (Uncontrolled)

Major Female National Median Pay Male National

Median Pay Ratio of Female to Male National Median Pay Accounting $51,400 $65,200 79% Aerospace Engineering $67,900 $67,700 100% Biology $42,000 $53,000 79% Chemistry $48,400 $63,300 76% Civil Engineering $57,900 $65,000 89% Communications $42,000 $51,800 81% Computer Science $62,100 $70,100 89% Criminal Justice $35,400 $47,500 75% Economics $53,800 $62,500 86% Electrical Engineering $69,800 $78,800 89% Elementary Education $35,700 $39,300 91% English $42,200 $51,300 82% History $40,100 $46,900 86% Journalism $41,000 $46,400 88% Marketing $44,600 $55,700 80% Mathematics $52,800 $67,100 79% Mechanical Engineering $67,500 $72,900 93% Nursing $61,400 $64,800 95% Occupational Therapy $69,200 $70,500 98% Sociology $39,000 $46,100 85%

The wage gap by major spreads wider when looking at national median pay figures compared to starting pay figures. This may tie into several outside factors now playing a larger role. These include job choice, employer type, company size, years of experience, location, etc. Now only Aerospace Engineering and Occupational Therapy majors earn roughly the same pay across genders.

Controlled Median Pay by Gender (National)

Major Female Controlled Median Pay Male Controlled

Median Pay Ratio of Female to Male Controlled Median Pay Accounting $56,900 $59,300 96% Aerospace Engineering $65,800 $67,400 98% Biology $45,800 $46,800 98% Chemistry $57,600 $58,400 99% Civil Engineering $62,800 $64,900 97% Communications $44,000 $45,500 97% Computer Science $67,700 $69,800 97% Criminal Justice $39,200 $41,400 95% Economics $60,200 $61,700 98% Electrical Engineering $78,400 $80,800 97% Elementary Education $36,000 $35,500 101% English $43,400 $43,600 100% History $42,800 $43,700 98% Journalism $41,600 $42,600 98% Marketing $48,000 $49,500 97% Mathematics $61,400 $62,800 98% Mechanical Engineering $73,300 $74,400 99% Nursing $61,000 $63,400 96% Occupational Therapy $69,400 $72,100 96% Sociology $39,800 $40,300 99%

Once we control for outside factors the wage gap between men and women shrinks considerably. Now women earn typical pay that is on average 98% of the typical pay for men by major. Occasionally, women may even earn more. Therefore, when looking at gender-specific pay by major for a controlled sample, the wage gap all but disappears.

The above data goes to show that major choice is a key reason for the gender wage gap of 77 cents to the dollar. In other words, women tend to choose majors (and thus jobs) that pay less on average. However, these majors pay less to both men and women.

No one definitively knows why women tend to choose lower paying majors, although some research has been done on the topic, including this piece from the economists at the New York Federal Reserve. Their key finding is that men tend to care more about money and income potential when choosing a major, while women place a higher importance on non-pecuniary aspects (e.g. work schedule, enjoying coursework, gaining parents’ approval, etc.).

To address the gender pay gap, we now have to turn our focus from “equal pay for equal work,” to erasing the explicit or implicit biases that cause women to cluster in lower paying majors and jobs, and men to cluster in more dangerous jobs and majors they don’t actually like just for the money.

What type of pay can you expect with your education? Be prepared with accurate salary expectations in your next job interview or review. For powerful salary data and comparisons customized for your exact position or job offer, be sure to build a complete profile by taking PayScale’s Full Salary Survey.

Regards,

Katie Bardaro

Research Analyst, PayScale, Inc.