Worthwhile Reads: Mapping the Glass Ceiling

I just found a fascinating article on a New York Times economic blog called “Mapping the Glass Ceiling.” The article presents the graph below, which shows the income growth of college educated men and women by age:

As the article explains,

College-educated men and women start out with a sizable gap in their pay — $40,800 versus $31,900, respectively — but both men and women see their earnings rise more or less in tandem at the start of their careers. In fact, in percentage terms, women’s pay raises initially outpace men’s, and then become about equal by age 30.

At age 30, both college-educated men and college-educated women have experienced wage growth of almost exactly 60 percent, compared to what they earned at age 22. The typical 30-year-old male college grad working full-time receives $65,300 annually, and his female counterpart receives $51,000.

Then, at age 30, college-educated women are likely to start having children. Not coincidentally, that’s also when women’s earnings growth starts to slow. Meanwhile, men’s earnings growth remains about steady.

Click the link to read the whole thing!