Abstract:

Using data of Employment Graduates Survey from Quality Agency of the University System of Catalonia (AQU) (surveys, 2008, 2011 and 2014), the purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical evidence of the existence of gender pay gap in the starting salaries of recent graduates. According with our data, we find that women’s wages are lower compared to men’s in this starting period of labour insertion. Ours results also reveal a gender pay gap between feminized and masculine fields of study and, consequently, it could be suggested that a wages are negatively related to the percentage of female in each field of study. Furthermore, the gender gap exists even if it is analysed homogeneous group of high skilled worker (analisys by field of study). Our findings also evidence that the less favorable wage rate of feminised fields persists in the three surveys analized. We find a deeper gap in the last period, that is, probably due to the economic crisis effects.

Keywords:

Gender pay gap, higher education, university graduates, fields of study.