ABSTRACT
The genders gap in educational attainment was never particularly large in the United States. The biggest differences historically were that, although women were more likely to graduate from high school than men, they were less likely to go on to college and graduate education. Putting the somewhat differently, gender differences in educational attainment do not help to explain the gender wage gap, but rather work slightly in the opposite direction. The chapter considers the results of the studies somewhat differently by focusing on the gender wage ratio. Taken together, changes in qualifications and in the unexplained gap worked to increase the gender wage ratio substantially. One of the factors influencing the trends in the gender pay gap is overall trends in wage inequality. Rising wage inequality, to the extent that it results from increasing returns to skills like work experience that women have less of than men, on average, is expected to widen the gender pay gap,.
