Educational Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap: The Direct and Indirect Contribution of Field of Study Among Tertiary-Educated Workers in Belgium

Details

Supervisors

Vandenberghe, Vincent ; Anna Bernard

Faculty

Faculté des sciences économiques, sociales, politiques et de communication

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences économiques, orientation générale, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

enBelgium ranks among the European countries with the smallest gender wage gaps, yet a puzzle remains: previous evidence suggests that men and women working in the same firms and jobs are generally paid in line with their productivity. If pay-setting itself were the only channel at play, this would leave little room for an aggregate wage gap. This thesis argues that part of the answer lies in sorting: men and women tend to work in different jobs, and it examines how much of this sorting can be attributed to differences in fields of study. Using the Vacature SalarisEnquête (2008–2012) and the Gelbach (2016) decomposition, the analysis estimates the direct contribution of field of study to the gender wage gap among tertiary-educated workers in Belgium, as well as its indirect contribution through occupation, sector and working time. The raw gender wage gap of 20.1% falls to 8.3% after accounting for demographic characteristics, working time, occupation, sector, and field of study, leaving a residual that none of these factors explain further. Among the reduction achieved, field of study accounts for 25.2% of the explained reduction on its own, rising to 40.0% once its indirect effects through occupation and sector are included, close to working time (41.9%). These findings suggest that what women and men study is related to where they work, and ultimately, how much they earn. This suggests that part of the gender wage gap may take shape long before entering the labour market.