The effect of higher education on the gender wage-gap

In this paper we investigate the effect of an academic degree on the gender wage gap, examining the cases of Greece and the United Kingdom. Using Labour Force Survey (LFS) micro-data we, first, compare the returns to higher education for each gender separately, we then decompose the gender wage gap between graduates and individuals with secondary education only, and finally we analyse the effect of higher education on the (un)explained part of the wage gap. For that purpose, an extension of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition technique is used. We find that the unexplained part, which is often related to discrimination is lower for graduates in both countries