The pay gap between men and women does not disappear when they leave university, even with a PhD. In fact, immediately after obtaining their doctorate, women already start with an average disadvantage of 171 euros per month, which only increases throughout their career. This is according to research by Radboud University and the University of Groningen, published this week in Research in Social Stratification and Mobility .
It has long been known that there is a pay gap in the academic world. "But many young researchers leave academia after completing their PhD (whether by choice or necessity). We were curious to find out whether the commonly held assumption that PhD graduates can earn more outside academia is correct", says Anne Maaike Mulders, sociologist at Radboud University and one of the authors of the article. For the study, Mulders and her colleagues used salary data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) to track more than 4,500 PhD researchers for up to sixteen years after obtaining their doctorates.
“Immediately after obtaining their doctorate, women earn an average of 171 euros less per month than their male colleagues. That difference only increases in the years that follow, regardless of whether they work within or outside the university”, Mulders points out. “Even when you take working hours, type of contract, field of study and family composition into account in the data, there is no clear explanation for this development.”
And is there really more money to be earned outside the university? “Only in the short term,” explains Mulders. "In the long term, academics earn more within the university. This pattern is particularly strong for women. They benefit from a relatively strong salary increase after leaving the university, but later see their income growth stagnate more than men. Because women leave the university faster and more often than men, income inequality is only exacerbated."
“Of course, not everyone can stay at the university; due to shortages and competition, this is not always possible. The departure of women from science is seen as a loss for the academic field, but it is often thought that scientists outside the university can at least earn more. For example, that after obtaining a technical PhD, you immediately receive a much higher salary at a pharmaceutical company,” says Mulders. “We don't see that reflected in the data.”
According to the researcher, this shows that structural factors in society play a role. "It's important not to blame women, for example by suggesting that they are less skilled at negotiating or that starting a family is the only thing limiting their salaries. That image is not accurate. What we see in the data seems to be more in line with broader inequality in salaries and career opportunities. Wherever women end up, whether inside or outside the university, they systematically earn less than men with similar backgrounds."
Research in Social Stratification and Mobility
Data/statistical analysis
Leaving for more or settling for less: Gendered salary trajectories after leaving academia
12-Feb-2026