The Gender Differences in Earnings Expectations: The Case of UW - River Falls

Abstract

This study uses expectations data collected on college seniors in business and education to test the human capital hypothesis that women planning labor force withdrawal choose occupations with lower returns to experience. These results suggest significant and anomalous effects for labor force plans in early salary estimates. The significant coefficients in those estimates suggest student uncertainty regarding future wages may be impacting the analysis. The auon1alous signs of the coefficients suggest job selection involves informal processes that go beyond the human capital explanation. The results also find no evidence that choice between Elementary and Secondary Education is based on human capital assumptions. (116, J24)