A Comparative Study of Sex Salary Differentials for Full-time Workers with a Degree in Science or Engineering

Abstract

This thesis compares two datasets, the Science and Engineering Indicators 2006 (SEI) and the 1993 National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG), and looks at the impact of sex on full-time annual salary while controlling for different variables. The SEI provides a study based on data from 1999 about the sex effects on salary, adds controls, and records the changes in the effect of sex on salary. The SEI study finds after adding controls for worker heterogeneity and compensating wage differentials, women with bachelor's degrees earn 11.0% less, women with master's degrees earn 8.0% less, and women with doctoral degrees earn 8.4% less than their male counterparts. My analysis of the NSCG finds after adding controls, women with bachelor's degrees earn 18.5% less, women with master?s degrees earn 18.7% less, and women with doctoral degrees earn 15.3% less than their male counterparts. Additionally, in the NSCG and the SEI the field of degree impacted the sex effects the most for bachelor's and master's degree holders. This research is useful to study the difference between these datasets from different time periods. Specifically, the difference in the sex wage gap and in the changing importance of certain variables affecting the sex wage gap.