April 2014

IZA DP No. 8112: Gender Pay Gaps among Highly Educated Professionals: Compensation Components Do Matter

revised version published in: Labour Economics, 2015, 34, 118-126

Making use of panel data from a survey of highly educated professionals, gender pay gaps are explored with regard to total compensation as well as to individual compensation components. The results indicate meaningful male-female wage differentials for this quite homogeneous group of people working in one specific industry: in particular for more experienced employees in higher positions of firm hierarchies with children. Gender pay gaps are much more pronounced for bonus payments than they are for fixed salaries.