Women Lose Out to Men Even Before They Graduate From College

Jacki Gu:

For almost 40 years, women have outnumbered men on U.S. college campuses. They’re accepted to the same schools as men, study in the same degree programs and graduate at higher rates than men. So when female graduates enter the labor force, you’d expect that they would at least find the same opportunities as their male peers, if not better ones.

That hasn’t necessarily happened, though. Male and female graduates of the same college majors tend to veer toward different types of jobs, according to a Bloomberg analysis of American Community Survey data of educational attainment, occupation and income. Women are less likely than men to have careers aligned to their field of study. The jobs many women take typically have lower career earning potential.

The data capture occupations and pay for people at different stages of their career, whether someone graduated from college last year or 30 years ago. But the trends are clear. Even in traditionally pre-professional fields, such as business, science and economics, equal educational attainment doesn’t always correspond to similar career choices by men and women.