What’s driving the gender pay gap?

The gender wage gap between male and female college graduates appears soon after joining the workforce, according to a new WSJ analysis of federal tax records for 2015 and 2016 grads.

🔢🚨 *WARNING*: Incoming data dump…. The analysis drew information from 1.7 million graduates, covering 11,300 undergrad and grad programs at roughly 2,000 universities.

Three years after graduation, median pay for male grads exceeded that of women – who graduated from the same program at the same school during the same year – in nearly 75% of cases. And we’re not exactly talking about a couple of pennies here or there: in almost half of the programs, men earned at least 10% more than women after three years.

• At Georgetown, men receiving undergrad accounting degrees earned a median $155,000 three years after graduation, a 55% premium over female classmates.
• Men with University of Michigan law degrees earned a median $165,000 three years after graduation, compared with $120,000 for women.
• Men graduating with a dental degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio earned a median $140,000 three years out, compared with $103,000 for women.

🤔 What’s driving the gap?… The data speaks for itself – the interpretation, not so much (lies, damned lies, and statistics, amirite?). Per the WSJ, economists who have long studied this issue cite the “motherhood penalty,” the perception that mothers are less committed to their work, as a main reason why women are less likely to be hired, promoted, or given a raise.

Others argue part of the pay gap can be explained by women historically pursuing degrees and careers in lower-paying fields – or simply working less hours – something the federal data didn’t account for.

• Multiple studies have also shown men tend to negotiate salaries more aggressively than women.

+Dive deeper: You can look up the gender pay gap for your school/program here.