A US-based researcher has won this year's Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences says Claudia Goldin has "uncovered key drivers of gender differences in the labor market."

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences says Goldin has provided the first comprehensive account of women's earnings and labor market participation, by collecting over 200 years' worth of data from the US.

They say her research reveals the causes of change, as well as the main sources of the remaining gender gap.

The academy says much of the earnings gap could be explained by differences in education and occupation choices. But it says Goldin has shown that most of the difference is now between men and women in the same occupations, and "largely arises with the birth of the first child."

The chair of the prize committee called Goldin's research "groundbreaking," saying "we now know much more about the underlying factors and which barriers may need to be addressed."

Goldin is the third female laureate in economic sciences.