Men don’t just get higher wages – they expect them too: Male students expect to be paid 15% MORE than women in their first job out of university, research shows

The gender pay gap is well documented in Britain, with the latest figures showing that the average wage in Britain is 14.3 percent lower for women than for men.

But a new study has shown that men are not only getting higher wages, but they expect them too.

Researchers from the University of Cologne surveyed more than 15,000 students about their salary expectations after university.

Their results show that male students expect to be paid 15 percent more than women in their first job.

“Even before entering the labor market, women expect much lower wages than men,” the researchers wrote.

The research shows that men (represented by the blue dotted line) will be paid significantly more than women (represented by the red line) throughout their careers.

A report published last year by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) found that female workers earn on average 14.3 percent less per year than men.

But until now, gender differences in expected wages before entering the labor market have been largely unexplored.

In their new research, the team set out to rectify this by surveying 15,000 students and recent graduates.

Participants were asked about their degree, salary expectations, sociodemographic information, child-rearing expectations, and salary negotiation plans.

The results showed that the female participants expected to earn significantly less than the male participants.

Male students said they expected to earn an average of €40,582 (£34,679) in their first job out of university.

An Office of National Statistics (ONS) report published last year found that female workers typically earn 14.3 percent less per year than men

Meanwhile, female students said they expected an average of €34,331 (£29,337) – 15 per cent less than men.

This means that female students would have to work an average of about four more hours per week in the same profession and industry to catch up to the expected starting wages of their male peers.

Over a lifetime, this gender gap in expected wages is even wider, totaling as much as €600,000 (£512,728).

Digging deeper into the results, the researchers found that after nine years of experience, men can expect to earn an average of €49,000 (£41,872).

This is almost as high as the highest level women can expect to earn throughout their career (€51,000 at age 50).

Although the reason for this remains unclear, researchers have several theories.

Writing in their study, published in Labor economicsthe researchers wrote: ‘Our finding that women intend to be less bold compared to their male counterparts appears to be driven by anticipation of gender discrimination, as well as by a preference to have children quickly.

‘Women also fear being seen as brazen and risking a lower final wage if they act bravely in wage negotiations.’

The team says the findings suggest women need better training in salary negotiations.

‘It could be important that women are trained in pay negotiations to ensure that they do not undervalue themselves, and that any expected gender discrimination deters them from demanding more money, as our research suggests that bold negotiation makes a positive difference. ‘ says Pia Pinger, lead author of the study.