Gender wage gaps by college major in Taiwan: Empirical evidence from the 1997–2003 Manpower Utilization Survey

Abstract

In this article, we examine the effect of incorporating the fields of study on the explained and unexplained components of the standard Oaxaca decomposition for the gender wage gaps in Taiwan using 1997–2003 Manpower Utilization Survey data. Using several existing and lately developed measures, we inspect the gender wage gap by college major to investigate whether gender wage discrimination exists in a specific field of study in Taiwan. We find that controlling for the major dummies does enhance the proportion of the characteristic effects in the Oaxaca-type decomposition. This finding is similar to those results found in western countries. However, using decomposition methods designed to assess within sector wage gaps, we find gender wage differences are statistically negligible in all majors except medicine. Our results can provide useful information on the economic returns to different disciplines to current and future college students, institutions, and government policy-makers.