Title

Firm Sorting, College Major, and the Gender Earnings Gap

Author(s)

Christopher Neilson Christopher Neilson (Princeton and NBER)

Federico Huneeus Federico Huneeus (Central Bank of Chile)

Conrad Miller Conrad Miller (UC Berkeley and NBER)

Seth Zimmerman Seth Zimmerman (Yale and NBER)

Abstract

A growing body of evidence shows that differences in firm-specific pay premiums account for a large share of the gender pay gap. This paper asks how a common form of pre-labor market skill specialization, college major, mediates access to high-paying firms, and what this means for the gender earnings gap. Using employer-employee tax data from Chile matched to educational records, we show that differences in college major account for more than two-thirds of the firms contribution to the gender earnings gap among college admits. Degrees in Technology, which are numerous, male-dominated, and associated with high firm premiums, drive these effects.

Creation Date

2021-05

Section URL ID

Paper Number

649

URL

https://dataspace.princeton.edu/bitstream/88435/dsp01j6731685w/3/649.pdf

File Function

Jel

J16, J31

Keyword(s)

Chile

Suppress

false

Series

1