Occupation, industry biggest factors in gender pay gap: study

The biggest obstacle to women receiving equal wages is the sorting of the sexes into different jobs and industries, while differences in education, age and experience account for only a small portion of the gender pay gap, according to new research.

Although US Census figures show women comprise 47 percent of the workforce and are more likely to earn a college degree, they still hold a disproportionate share of lower-paying jobs, while men dominate executive positions.

"For a whole bunch of reasons, through the education system and the workplace, women are being pushed into different kinds of roles," said Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist at jobs and recruiting marketplace Glassdoor. "This is the single largest factor we see contributing to today's gender pay gap," he said in an interview.

Chamberlain used data from more than 500,000 salary reports on Glassdoor to compare the gender pay gap and identify patterns across industries and jobs that contribute to it in five countries.

It showed the pay divide ranged from 24.1 percent in the United States, where women are paid about 76 cents for every dollar men make, to roughly 22.8 percent in the United Kingdom, 22.5 percent in Germany, 17.3 percent in Australia and 14.3 percent in France.