women with only compulsory schooling have a very high probability of having very low earnings at the age of and even among those that work earnings are very low second while getting some education beyond secondary school seems to pay off for men completing a nonprofessional university degree does not make any significant difference there is evidence of a somewhat greater return at this margin for women both in terms of employment and in terms of annual earnings some of these differences in labor market outcomes are likely to stem from the fact that men and women within these education categories are not in the same educational fields and hence face different labor markets