The E ects of Human Capital Depreciation on Occupational Gender Segregation

This paper analyzes how human capital depreciation a ects occupational gender segregation. Prior studies are generally biased because, given an occupational depreciation rate, female workers endogenously choose the duration of leave. I address this problem by proposing an alternative depreciation measure utilizing involuntary job displacement shocks. Using this depreciation proxy along with additional pecuniary and non-pecuniary occupational attributes, I estimate a conditional logit model of occupational choices separately for male and female college graduates. My results show that women have a stronger distaste than men for occupations with high human capital depreciation.