Pay Gaps and the Boy Crisis

Matthew Yglesias uses the NYT's groovy new salary comparison calculator to illustrate gender gaps in pay for young women, and concludes that "Most of these people are just starting out, and the men are already earning substantially more."

Indeed. As I noted here, U.S. Department of Education data show that young men are earning more than women in their first jobs out of college--even after you control for field of study.

Table B. Average annual salary of 1992-93 and 1999-2000 bachelor's degree recipients who were employed full time, by undergraduate field and gender: 1994 and 2001

Gender and undergraduate field of study	Average annual salary (in constant 2001 $)
	1994	2001
Total
Male	$32,500	$39,400
Female	27,400	32,600
Business/management
Male	33,600	42,300
Female	29,900	39,000
Education
Male	35,100	29,600
Female	21,900	28,100
Engineering, mathematics, and sciences1
Male	33,300	45,200
Female	27,900	34,200
Humanities and social/behavioral science
Male	27,300	34,600
Female	26,500	29,400
Health, vocational/technical, and other technical/professional fields
Male	35,400	38,100
Female	30,300	34,30

¹Sciences include life sciences, physical sciences, and computer/information science. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1993/97 and 2000/01 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:93/97 and B&B:2000/01).