Full Citation
Title: Women's Progress for Men's Gain? Gender-Specific Changes in the Return to Education as Measured by Family Standard-of-Living, 1990 to 2009-11
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2017
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI:
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: This study investigates gender-specific changes in the total financial return to education among prime working-age (i.e., 35 to 44) persons using U.S. Census data from 1990 and 2000, and the 2009-2011 American Community Survey. We define the total financial return to education as the family standard-of-living as measured by family income adjusted for family size. Our results indicate that women experienced significant progress in educational attainment and labor market outcomes over this time period. Ironically, married womens progress in education and personal earnings has led to greater improvement in the family standard-of-living for married men than for women themselves. Gender-specific changes in assortative mating are mostly responsible for this paradoxical trend. Because the number of women who are highly educated exceeds the number of highly educated men in the marriage market, the likelihood of educational marryingup has substantially increased for men over time while womens likelihood has decreased. Sensitivity analyses show that the greater improvement in the family standard-of-living for men than for women is not limited to prime working-age persons, but is also evident in the general population. Consequently, womens return to education through marriage declined while mens financial gain through marriage increased considerably.
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Kim, ChangHwan; Sakamoto, Arthur
Publisher: University of Kansas
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Education, Family and Marriage, Gender, Labor Force and Occupational Structure
Countries: