Gender differences in the labour market entry of STEM graduates

IF 2.6 Q1 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

European Journal of Higher Education Pub Date : 2021-12-22 DOI:10.1080/21568235.2021.2010226

Jakob Schwerter, Lena Ilg

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

ABSTRACT Many women do not work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations even though they have degrees in these subjects. To shed light on this problem, we use information from the German Graduate Panel and show a significant gender gap among STEM graduates working in degree-related occupations after graduation. Therefore, we focus on university graduates’ transition into the labour market and include male and female non-STEM and STEM graduates. We find that male STEM graduates are more likely to work in a degree-related field than other men. A gender gap in degree-related work in STEM occupations shows that this is not the case for women. Separating STEM into engineering and computer science (EngComp) and mathematics and natural sciences (MatNat) shows that EngComp graduates are the main driver of the STEM effects. The estimations remain robust to a comprehensive set of individual background information. Moreover, bearing children before graduation or at the beginning of one’s professional career does not explain the lower entry behaviour of female EngComp graduates. Possible channels for why women with an EngComp degree are not as likely as men to start their professional life in an EngComp occupation are discussed.

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STEM毕业生进入劳动力市场的性别差异

许多女性并不从事科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)职业，即使她们拥有这些学科的学位。为了阐明这个问题，我们使用了德国毕业生小组的信息，并显示了在毕业后从事学位相关职业的STEM毕业生之间存在显著的性别差距。因此，我们关注大学毕业生进入劳动力市场的过渡，包括男性和女性非STEM和STEM毕业生。我们发现，男性STEM毕业生比其他男性更有可能在与学位相关的领域工作。STEM职业中与学位相关工作的性别差异表明，女性并非如此。将STEM分为工程与计算机科学(EngComp)和数学与自然科学(MatNat)表明，EngComp毕业生是STEM效应的主要推动者。对于一组全面的个人背景信息，这些估计仍然是可靠的。此外，在毕业前或职业生涯开始时生育孩子并不能解释EngComp女性毕业生较低的入行行为。本文还讨论了为什么拥有EngComp学位的女性不像男性那样以EngComp职业开始职业生涯的可能原因。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

European Journal of Higher Education Social Sciences-Education

CiteScore

5.80

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The European Journal of Higher Education (EJHE) aims to offer comprehensive coverage of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of higher education, analyses of European and national higher education reforms and processes, and European comparative studies or comparisons between European and non-European higher education systems and institutions. Building on the successful legacy of its predecessor, Higher Education in Europe, EJHE is establishing itself as one of the flagship journals in the study of higher education and specifically in study of European higher education.