Gender differences in employment and starting salaries of business majors during the 1980s: The impact of college-acquired characteristics

Abstract

This study identifies changes in employment and starting salary gaps among business graduates by gender during the 1980s. Although national data indicate that both employment conditions and earnings improved for women in general over the past decade, our results indicate that, at least for a select group of younger women, labor market conditions were mixed. First, female graduates majoring in business found it less difficult, both in absolute and relative terms, to secure full-time employment after graduation throughout the 1980s. That is, the employment success rate for these females increased relative to their male counterparts. Second, regardless of whether mean, regression, or decomposition analysis is used to calculate the gender gap in starting salaries, the gap continued to increase throughout the last decade. In addition, both the regression and decomposition results suggest that the mean starting salaries gap underestimated the actual gap for the two periods studied. Finally, the study suggests that of the college-acquired characteristics found to be significant determinants of employment success and starting salaries in the early 1980s, only academic achievement continued to play a significant positive role by the end of the decade.