Hours Constraints, Occupational Choice, and Gender: Evidence from Medical Residents.

This article investigates whether long work hours during early career stages inhibit women's entry into high-paying medical specialties by analyzing the 2003 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) policy that capped medical residents' workweeks at 80 hours. Using comprehensive data on U.S. medical school graduates, the study finds that reductions in residency hours lead to a significant increase in women entering more time-intensive specialties, with little change observed for men. Evidence from medical students' stated specialty preferences supports that this shift is driven primarily by changes in women's labor supply rather than residency programs' hiring practices. Additionally, the reform's effect on reallocating women into higher-paying specialties could reduce the physician gender wage gap by approximately 11%. The findings highlight how early-career time requirements contribute to occupational gender segregation and suggest that reducing such demands may promote greater gender equity in professional fields.