Career Choices Are a Main Driver of the Gender Gap

Today is Equal Pay Day in the United States, meaning that women would have to work all the way through 2024 and up to March 25, 2025 to reach the same average salary that their male counterparts would earn in a year. This equates to women having made on average 83 cents for every dollar that men earned in 2024.

The U.S. Census Bureau conducted research between 2005 and 2019 to gain more insight to why this gap exists, comparing male and female earnings for graduates of similar educational programs. The institution analyzed data from respondents who completed their secondary certificate and those who completed bachelor’s programs over 15 years and then estimated the size of the earnings gap at each level, as well as the three factors that could have contributed to it.

Differences in the choice of major, occupation and industry are key factors in the gender wage gap across all education levels. For bachelor's graduates, field of study also played a big role, while for certificate holders, it was hours worked. Almost a third of the gap is unexplained, however.