Wage Gap Reversing for Young Earners in Big Cities?

An interesting analysis and set of findings by Andrew Beveridge, a demographer at Queens College, appeared first in the Gotham Gazette and then in a New York Times article.  Dr. Beveridge's analysis of demographic data shows that women of all educational levels from the ages of 21 to 30, living in Yew York City and working full-time, earned 117% of men's wages.  (This compares to national data showing women earning 89% of men on average.)

According to the New York Times article, this "reverse wage gap" pattern is repeated in other big cities across the U.S., including Chicago, Boston, and Minneapolis, with the most significant being Dallas, where women in this group are earning 120% of their male counterparts.

A number of theories are posed as to the causes of this phenomenon, from the fact that women are now attending and graduating from college in greater numbers than men to the possibility that young urban women - perhaps feeling the pressure of impending family obligations - are more devoted to their career growth in these early years.  At any rate, it will be an intriguing development to follow - could we be at the leading edge of a trend?

Comments

[Kris]

Ann -

I saw this one too. Interesting stuff. There was also a recent Time article on raising boys that cited colleges and universities as having issues keeping a 50/50 split male/female with incoming classes.

I feel like research showing females mature faster (agreeing with your point that they are more career focused)along with the sophistication of the employers in those areas accounts for the trend.

The 117% number is wild. It would be interesting to see what industries and job titles dominated the research....

KD

[Ann Bares]

Kris:

My daughter is a rising senior beginning the college application process; so I have become acutely (painfully?) aware of the disadvantage experienced by young women applying to colleges who are working hard to maintain their 50/50 split in the face of an applicant pool dominated by females.

I agree - it would be interesting to see what this trend looks like when you break the data down by industry and field. Perhaps Dr. Beveridge has that information available somewhere - I haven't yet dug far enough to find it.

Thanks - as always - for reading and commenting!