Based on a uniquely matched firm-worker panel dataset for 2013 and 2015, this study is the first to consider the effect of education on employee benefits in terms of wages and quality of employment. We find that only college or university education has a positive influence on employee wages when taking into account worker characteristics alone but…

Using the China Family Panel Studies, we identify the subjects studied by vocational college and university graduates, with the latter group further divided into ordinary and key universities. While the returns are around 8-10% to attending colleges and ordinary universities, there are higher returns of 12-16% per annum to attending the more…

Based on Swedish register data from 2003 to 2012, this study attempts to explain over-education and upward mobility among tertiary graduates. Rarely used explanatory factors are central in the analyses, such as 'still in study' and 'field of education'. Tertiary graduates in low-wage jobs are regarded as over-educated. The results of this work…

This study provides empirical evidence of enhancing an individual's ability to make an informed decision about higher education. The purpose of the causal-comparative design was to observe the relationships between the time a student completes a college degree and their self-reported lifetime income while considering gender. A convenience sample…

Underrepresented minority (URM) college students have been steadily earning degrees in relatively less-lucrative fields of study since the mid-1990s. A decomposition reveals that this widening gap is principally explained by rising stratification at public research universities, many of which increasingly enforce GPA restriction policies that…

The population of the United States is getting older. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), older workers -- which the BLS defines as those who are 55 and older -- made up 22% of the U.S. workforce in 2016, nearly double the 12% recorded in 1995. This increase is largely "fueled by the aging baby-boom generation, a large…

Does the gender pay gap affect women's ability to repay their student debt? This study investigates the extent to which an income contingent scheme benefits women because of their individual earnings. Using the Australian Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, gender differences in debt repayment behaviour over the past two…

This report looks at the scale of the gender pay gap between male and female graduates and the factors that may influence this. It finds the overall graduate gender pay gap is not wholly accounted for by subject of study, type of university attended, prior attainment, social background or ethnicity. It also explores differences in approaches and…

Many school districts across the United States face severe shortages of high school science and mathematics teachers. Moreover, college graduates that major in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) field face unique opportunity costs when deciding to enter the teaching field. An analysis of the opportunity costs faced by STEM…

This study analyzes the gender gap in private returns to higher education in Kazakhstan. Using the 2010 Kazakhstan Migration and Remittances Survey data I find that the gender wage gap is large, although returns to higher education for women are higher than for men. The Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition shows that in Kazakhstan the gender difference in…

The American workforce is currently experiencing an increased level of diversity in comparison to previous decades due to augmented representation of people of different races, socio-economic backgrounds and genders across sectors (Warner, 2014). However, there is one variable that has remained largely unchanged, the underrepresentation of African…

In Chapter 1, I investigate the migration response of college students to tuition differences between states, using variation introduced by tuition regional reciprocity agreements. Out-of-state students generally pay higher tuition than in-state students, but reciprocity agreements reduce the premium paid by students from other states in the…

Using a sample of college graduates from the NLSY97, we introduce a new approach to assessing wage benefits of STEM training, STEM jobs, and the match between the two: rather than classify individuals dichotomously as STEM or non-STEM, we measure the STEM-intensities of both their college coursework and their occupational requirements. While the…

In recent years, universities have appointed an increasing number of "teaching-only" or "teaching-dominant" staff. While the balance of reward and recognition between teaching and research has been extensively considered for staff engaged in both, this is the first attempt to look at the situation of staff appointed on…

This brief provides a nuanced interpretation of how higher education has paid women in administrative positions from 2001-2016, as well as the number of women holding top leadership positions in colleges and universities nationwide. Findings in this brief include the following: (1) In 2001, women administrators in higher education earned…