Workers with more education typically earn more than those with less education, and the difference has been growing in recent decades. Not surprisingly, the percentage of the population going after and getting a college degree has been rising as well. Since the late 1970s, though, the increase in college attainment has stalled for men and gathered steam for women. Among college-age individuals, more women now graduate than men. Changes in labor market incentives appear to explain the increased investment in education made by women. But men’s investments in education have been much less responsive to the same incentivesEducation ; Women - Education

Dionissi Aliprantis

Kyle Fee

Timothy Dunne

English

Research Papers in Economics

ECONOMIC COMMENTARY
Number 2011-21
October 18, 2011
The Growing Difference in College 
Attainment between Women and Men
By Dionissi Aliprantis, Timothy Dunne, and Kyle Fee
Workers with more education typically earn more than those with less education, and the difference has been growing 
in recent decades. Not surprisingly, the percentage of the population going after and getting a college degree has been 
rising as well. Since the late 1970s, though, the increase in college attainment has stalled for men and gathered steam 
for women. Among college-age individuals, more women now graduate than men. Changes in labor market incentives 
appear to explain the increased investment in education made by women. But men’s investments in education have been 
much less responsive to the same incentives.
  ISSN 0428-1276
One major trend taking shape in the U.S. labor force over 
the past 30 years is a growing gap in wages between skilled 
and unskilled workers. In the late 1970s, college graduates 
earned about 40 percent more than high school graduates, 
and today that differential stands at 90 percent. Not surpris-
ingly, workers have responded to this growing wage pre-
mium for educated workers by getting more education. The 
proportion of the adult population with a four-year college 
degree has risen from 10 percent to 30 percent over the past 
45 years. 
However, this rise in college attainment has not been uni-
form across all demographic groups. In particular, women 
have graduated from college at a much higher rate than men 
for recent cohorts, accounting for almost all of the growth 
in the college attainment rate observed in the United States 
since 1980. 
In this Commentary, we look at these shifts in the educational 
attainment patterns of men and women in more detail and 
explore what is behind them. The differences start early—
women’s educational achievement outpaces men’s prior to 
and during college. Changes in labor market incentives ap-
pear to explain the increased investment in education made 
by women. Many of these same factors are at work for men, 
but men’s investments in education have been much less 
responsive to these rising incentives.
Women Close the Gap and Move Ahead
When economists look at educational attainment, they 
think about it in terms of an investment that individuals 
or societies make in human capital. Like improvements in 
physical capital, which make factories and equipment more 
efﬁ  cient, improvements in human capital make workers 
more efﬁ  cient. Improvements in human capital allow a 
unit of labor (such as an hour of work) to produce more 
or higher quality output. This higher productivity leads to 
higher compensation, in general. 
Investments in human capital also have broader implications 
for economic growth. It is well documented that states and 
metropolitan areas in the United States with higher educa-
tional attainment have experienced faster income growth 
than less educated regions. 
A key barometer used to measure the level of human capi-
tal in an economy is the percent of the adult population 
that has earned a four-year college degree. Since the 1960s, 
that percentage has risen steadily in the United States 
(ﬁ  gure 1). However, as mentioned above, this rise has not 
been uniform across genders. 
2011-21.indd   3 10/17/2011   2:48:57 PM10
15
20
25
30
Percent of adults aged 25 years and older
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
10
20
30
40
Percent of adults aged 25-34
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Men
Women
Figure 1. College Attainment Rate Figure 2. College Attainment Rate, Young Cohort
Source: IPUMS CPS. Source: IPUMS CPS.
Focusing on the college attainment rates of young adults 
(ages 25–34), we see different patterns for men and women 
over time (ﬁ  gure 2). A higher percentage of young men 
graduated from college in the late 1960s, and the percent-
age rose relatively quickly through the mid-1970s. After 
that the rise stalled out, gaining little over the next 30 
years. Part of the trend for men can be explained by the 
effects of the Vietnam War on the schooling decisions 
of men who were eligible for the draft. In the 1960s and 
1970s men could obtain a deferment from military duty by 
attending college. The end of the draft removed the defer-
ment incentive to attend college, helping to stem the rise in 
male college attainment. 
Women’s rate of college attainment also rose during the 
1960s and 1970s at a relatively quick pace, but unlike the 
male rate, it continued to increase during the 1980s. By 
the mid-1990s, women had closed the gap on men, and by 
2010, their college attainment rate exceeded men’s by 
8 percentage points (or by 29 percent) in this age cohort. 
Different Approaches to Educational Achievement
We can explain the lower rate of male college attainment at 
least in a mechanical sense. It comes about because males 
have a lower level of achievement at a number of stages 
in the educational process. Males graduate high school at 
lower rates, attend college right out of high school at lower 
rates, and complete college if they do go at lower rates than 
females. 
While there is considerable disagreement across stud-
ies about high school graduation rates and how they are 
measured, no one disputes the ﬁ  nding that males have lower 
high school graduation rates than females. According to 
recent research by economists James Heckman and Paul 
Lafontaine, male high school graduation rates averaged 
3 to 5 percentage points lower than females for recent co-
horts. Males also rely more on GED (graduate equivalency 
diploma) certiﬁ  cation to complete high school than females. 
GED certiﬁ  cation and high school graduation should not 
be viewed as identical credentials. Both social and economic 
outcomes differ markedly for individuals who receive high 
school degrees and those who obtain GEDs. For example, 
GED recipients earn signiﬁ  cantly lower wages than tradi-
tional high school graduates.
Females appear to exert more effort in educational en-
deavors than males during high school, as well. A look at 
recent Advanced Placement (AP) courses shows that 
25 percent more females took AP tests in high school in 
2010 than males. This differential has been expanding over 
the last decade (ﬁ  gure 3). The 2003–2007 American Time 
Use Surveys indicate that female high school students were 
also more likely to do homework on a given day than their 
male counterparts—50 percent versus 37 percent. 
Given the differences in high school performance, it is 
not surprising that more women enter college than men. 
In 2009, 57 percent of the students enrolled in two- and 
four-year colleges were women. Among recent high school 
graduates, 74 percent of the women went on to attend 
two- and four-year colleges, whereas only 66 percent of the 
men did (National Center for Education Statistics). The 
difference in enrollment rates between men and women has 
widened over the last several decades.
2011-21.indd   4 10/17/2011   2:48:57 PM0 5 10 15 20 25 30
MA, PhD, professional
Bachelor's degree
Associate's degree
Some college, 
more than 1 year
Some college, 
less than 1 year
GED certiﬁcate
High school graduate
Less than high school
Percent
Female
Male
Figure 3. Students Taking Advanced  Placement Tests Figure 4. Educational Attainment, 24–25 Year-Olds
Source: College Board. Source: 2009 American Community Survey.
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Thousands of students
Male 
Female 
Finally, women have more success in graduating from col-
lege than men. For example, 60 percent of women in the 
2003 freshman class at four-year colleges graduated within 
six years. The rate for men was 55 percent (National Center 
for Education Statistics). These statistics track only non-
transferring students, so the overall graduation rate of the 
entering cohort will be somewhat higher. 
These differences in educational achievement are reﬂ  ected 
in the overall attainment rates of men and women near 
the end of the traditional schooling process (24-25 years of 
age). In 2009, 43 percent of the men in this age group had 
gone no further than high school (they had graduated high 
school, earned their GED certiﬁ  cates, or dropped out). This 
compares to 32 percent of women. 
While the percentages of men and women in this age 
group that have attended college but have not yet gradu-
ated are similar, the share of women who have gotten a 
degree is higher. Women have higher educational attain-
ment rates across all three higher-education categories—
associate’s, bachelor’s and graduate degrees (ﬁ  gure 4). 
Still, many individuals will obtain their college degrees at 
ages well above the traditional college graduation window. 
For both men and women, the four-year college degree at-
tainment rates for 24–25 year olds are still well below those 
for the 25–34 age cohort. In fact, roughly 40 percent of 
individuals reporting they have attended college but do not 
have a degree are still enrolled in school. But even in this 
group, men still have somewhat lower attendance rates than 
women. So, one shouldn’t expect much of a “late bloomer” 
catch-up effect for men. 
The differences in college attainment rates seen for the U.S. 
economy as a whole are also evident for most racial groups 
across the country. In 2009, the gap in college attainment 
between men and women for African Americans, non-His-
panic whites, and Hispanics averaged between 25 percent 
and 40 percent (American Community Survey). The only 
group with a relatively small difference was Asians (5 per-
cent). In addition, the shift toward higher attainment rates 
for women occurs across all 50 states and in almost all large 
metropolitan areas.
Labor Market Trends
From an economic viewpoint, the trend in college attain-
ment for women is consistent with labor market fundamen-
tals. The wage rates of college-educated women have risen 
substantially relative to the wages of high-school-educated 
women—increasing the expected beneﬁ  ts of a college degree. 
The gap has widened further over the past two decades but 
at a more gradual pace. In 2007 (prior to the recession), 
college-educated women earned roughly 90 percent more 
than women with just a high school degree (ﬁ  gure 5).
Another trend that affects women’s schooling decisions is 
women’s growing participation in the labor force. Higher 
labor force participation rates reinforce the effects of grow-
ing wage incentives, as women are more likely to reap the 
wage beneﬁ  ts of investments in education. The labor force 
participation rate for women aged 25–34 with a college 
degree rose to above 80 percent in 1982 and has remained 
between 80 percent and 85 percent ever since (ﬁ  gure 6). 
This represents a rate of labor force participation that has 
typically been 18 percentage points higher than for women 
with a high school degree or less. 
2011-21.indd   5 10/17/2011   2:48:58 PM1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.0
Relative wage, adults aged 25 and older
1980 1990 2000 2010
Men
Women
40
60
80
100
Participation rate
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
College men
Men with high school or less
College women
Women with high school or less
Figure 5. Hourly Wage Rate, College vs. High School Figure 6. Labor Force Participation Rates, Young Cohort
Source: CEPR, Outgoing Rotation Group. Source: IPUMS CPS.
Some of this rise in participation has been due to changes in 
the labor market, such as increased wages and access to a 
wider variety of occupations. Some was also due to changes 
in institutions, such as the postponement of marriage and 
the expansion of child care alternatives. In short, the ben-
eﬁ  ts of investing in a college education may have increased 
for women. 
It is important to note that even as the supply of women 
with college degrees in the labor force has been rising over 
time, the wage differential between workers with college and 
high school degrees has continued to expand, albeit some-
what more slowly in recent decades. This reﬂ  ects the fact 
that the increase in the demand for skilled women outpaced 
the increase in the supply of skilled women, allowing the 
relative and absolute wages of skill to rise. 
While women have increased their educational investment 
steadily over time, men have not. From 1980 to 2010, col-
lege attainment for males aged 25 to 34 increased by only 
1 percentage point (ﬁ  gure 2). It has been essentially ﬂ  at over 
the last decade. 
For males, the labor market incentives to invest in a college 
education have moved in the same general direction as those 
for females. The college–high school wage differential for 
men has continued to expand over time, generally tracking 
the rise seen for women (ﬁ  gure 5). There has also been a 
growing gap in the rate of labor force participation between 
males with a college degree and those with a high school 
degree or less (ﬁ  gure 6). In 2007 (prior to the last reces-
sion), the difference was 7 percentage points, 96 percent 
versus 89 percent, for men in the 25 to 34 age bracket. Such 
differences in labor force participation between college- and 
high-school-educated males only expand as cohorts become 
older. In the end, there seems to be no clear-cut difference 
in the traditional labor market beneﬁ  ts of a college degree 
for men and women. Economists Gary Becker, William 
Hubbard, and Kevin Murphy recently argued this point in a 
research study. 
The net result of these shifts in educational attainment and 
labor force participation rates is that women now supply a 
little more than half of the overall college-educated hours of 
labor for the young working cohort. The rise in the share of 
skilled women in the workforce is reﬂ  ected in changes in the 
demographics of many skilled occupations. Back in 1970, 
12 percent of women aged 25 to 34 had college degrees, and 
of those with college degrees about half were primary- and 
secondary-school teachers (Census data). Women in the 
young working cohort with college degrees made up only 
11 percent of physicians, 9 percent of degreed accountants 
and auditors, and 1 percent of degreed engineers. By 2009, 
these patterns had shifted markedly, with 50 percent of phy-
sicians, 57 percent of degreed accountants and auditors, and 
19 percent of degreed engineers being women. 
Basic Differences 
While expanding opportunities and economic beneﬁ  ts for 
women can explain women’s increased college attainment 
rates, the stagnation of male college attainment rates (at 
rates well below women) is harder to explain on purely 
economic grounds. Analysts have begun to stress differ-
ences in young males and females (such as maturation rates, 
behavioral problems, and noncognitive skill acquisition) that 
2011-21.indd   6 10/17/2011   2:48:58 PMFigure 7. Tertiary-Type A Graduation Rates (2008)
Source: Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, Education 
at a Glance 2010.
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may make college, and schooling in general, more costly for 
males to invest in than females. As the economists Claudia 
Goldin, Lawrence Katz, and Ilyana Kuzeimko put it—men 
may have higher “effort costs” to engage in schooling than 
women, and thus, everything else equal, educational invest-
ment looks less attractive to males. 
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, this observed difference in 
college attainment rates between males and females is not 
unique to the United States, as OECD data show (ﬁ  gure 7). 
In almost all countries, except for Japan and Turkey, women 
have overtaken men in college attainment rates, with 
women making up an increasingly important fraction of the 
skilled workforce. 
These shifts in skill acquisition across the genders have 
reshaped labor markets over the past 30 years, altering the 
demographics of occupations and industries. Moreover, 
given current enrollment and completion trends in high 
school and college, it is unlikely that the male–female 
college attainment gap will be closed anytime soon. 
Recommended Reading
“How High School Students Use Time: A Visual Essay,” 
Mary D. Allard, 2008. Monthly Labor Review.
“The Polarization of Job Opportunities in the U.S. Labor 
Market: Implications for Employment and Earnings,” David 
Autor, 2010. Center for American Progress and The Hamil-
ton Project, working paper. 
“Explaining the Worldwide Boom in Higher Education of 
Women,” Gary S. Becker, William H. Hubbard, and Kevin 
M. Murphy, 2010. Milton Friedman Institute, working 
paper no. 2010-09.
Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2011. CPS ORG 
Uniform Extracts Version 1.6, Washington, D.C. 
“The Homecoming of American College Women: The 
Reversal of the College Gender Gap,” Claudia Goldin, 
Lawrence F. Katz, and Ilyana Kuziemko, 2006. Journal of 
Economic Perspectives.
“The American High School Graduation Rate: Trends and 
Levels,” James J. Heckman and Paul A. LaFontaine, 2010. 
The Review of Economics and Statistics. 
“Equally Prepared for Life? How 15-year-old Boys and Girls 
Perform in School,” Organization of Economic Cooperation 
and Development, 2009. Program for International Student 
Assessment.
Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 5.0 [Machine-
readable database], Steven Ruggles, J. Trent Alexander, 
Katie Genadek, Ronald Goeken, Matthew B. Schroeder, 
and Matthew Sobek, 2010. Minneapolis, Minn.: Minnesota 
Population Center [producer and distributor].
2011-21.indd   1 10/17/2011   2:48:50 PMDionissi Aliprantis is a research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Timothy Dunne is a vice president and economist at 
the Bank, and Kyle Fee is a research analyst at the Bank. The views they express here are theirs and not necessarily those of the Federal 
Reserve Bank of Cleveland or the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or its staff.
Economic Commentary is published by the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. To receive copies or be placed 
on the mailing list, e-mail your request to 4d.subscriptions@clev.frb.org or fax it to 216.579.3050. Economic Commentary is also available 
on the Cleveland Fed’s Web site at www.clevelandfed.org/research. 
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2011-21.indd   2 10/17/2011   2:48:57 PM

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