“There’s a dramatic difference in how much early career men and women in the sciences are paid,” said Bruce Weinberg, co-author of the study and professor of economics at The Ohio State University. “We can get a sense of some of the reasons behind the pay gap, but our study can’t speak to whether any of the gap is due to discrimination. Our results do suggest some lack of family-friendliness for women in these careers.”
Bruce Weinberg’s study finds marriage, kids and scientific fields chosen explain gap
One year after they graduate, women with Ph.D.s in science and engineering fields earn 31 percent less than do men, according to a new study using IRIS data. The pay gap dropped to 11 percent when researchers took into account that women tended to graduate with degrees in fields that generally pay less than fields in which men got their degrees.
IRIS Co-PI, Bruce Weinberg conducted the study with Catherine Buffington and Benjamin Cerf of the U.S. Census Bureau and Christina Jones of the American Institutes for Research. It appears in the May 2016 issue of the American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings.