Women Lose Out to Men Even Before They Graduate From College by Bloomberg LP

This piece explores job prospects for male and female college graduates. Through extensive data analysis, research and reporting, it finds that the careers that college-educated women take tend to differ from their male peers of the same degree attainment, and that those jobs pay less. It tackles a massive data set, analyzing layers of educational attainment, occupation, and income data from the American Community Survey’s five-year data release, to investigate a complex issue from multiple angles and offers substantive reasons for the phenomenon.

The visuals and interactive elements of this piece are clear and extensive, making it easy to understand broad trends while also offering detail-oriented readers the opportunity to dive into the specifics of the data. For example, the graphics make it clear that female college graduates are much more likely to become social workers, counselors and teachers, whereas male college graduates are more likely to become computer programmers and professors. More curious readers, however, can also find that of the survey respondents, 343 math majors became secretaries or administrative assistants at an average salary of $40,000, with women making up 90 percent of that figure. It also provides readers the opportunity to “find themselves” in the data by seeking out their college majors and occupations and seeing the statistics behind them.