by Jim Rose in discrimination, economics of education, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, College premium, education premium, gender wage gap, Ireland

Figure 1: % population who have attained at least tertiary education, age 25 – 34 by gender (2012)

Source: OECD family database.

Figure 2 shows that the stark reversing of the gender gap in educational attainment shown in figure 1 was somewhat more recent in the US, UK and to a lesser extent in Ireland and Australia. In the UK and USA, educational attainment by gender was pretty equal for the earlier generation of graduates as compared to today’s 25 to 34-year-olds. The reversing of the gender gap in educational attainment dates back several decades in Canada and New Zealand.

Figure 2: % population who have attained at least tertiary education, age 45 – 54 by gender (2012)

Source: OECD family database.