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.
Are you curious whether you are paid what you're worth given the major you chose? Find out with a free PayScale Salary Report.
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
- 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.
- 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
