In Finland the gender wage gap increases significantly during the first 10 years after labor market entry accounting most of the life-time increase in the gender wage gap. This paper focuses on the early career gender wage differences among university graduates and considers several explanations for the gender wage gap based on the human capital theory, job mobility and labor market segregation. Gender differences in the accumulation of experience and in the type of education explain about 16 percent of the average gender wage gap that emerges during the first 11 years after labor market entry among university graduates. Differences in employer characteristics between male and female graduates account about 10 percent for the average early career gender wage gap. In all gender differences in background characteristics explain about 27 percent of the average early career wage differences between male and female university graduates. The most important single factor contributing to the gender wage gap is the family type. Women seem to suffer considerable larger wage losses due to marriage and children than men.
