Pay Differences among the Highly Trained: Cohort Differences in the Male-Female Earnings Gap in Lawyers' Salaries

Mary C. Noonan, University of Iowa
Mary E. Corcoran, University of Michigan
Paul N. Courant, University of Michigan

Using unique data from two cohorts of University of Michigan Law School graduates, we investigate how sex differences in job settings and pay have evolved as women entered an elite "male" field - law. By comparing the experiences of male and female law graduates from an early cohort (classes 1972 to 1977) to a later cohort (classes 1978 to 1983), we are able to explore how sex-based wage gaps, within occupational sex segregation, and penalties to part-time work and career interruptions have changed across cohorts. The relative homogeneity of the men and women in our sample and the precision with which their human capital can be measured enhance our ability to isolate any of the sex differences in pay that do exist.