This dissertation presents three separate essays. The first two essays explore the gender wage gap and its dynamics in urban China from 1995 to 2018. The first chapter decomposes the gender wage gap based on the observed wage for workers with a precise measure of the hourly wages. The first chapter examines the observed average gender wage gap in…

In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis of 2,191 empirical results reported in 213 existing studies to estimate the Mincer-type return to schooling in China. The results revealed that the return to schooling showed a positive impact, and the effect size was medium in terms of the partial correlation coefficient. We also found that workers in…

This paper explores the relationship between English language skills and earnings among workers in urban China using micro-data from the 2015 China General Social Survey. Using OLS and 2SLS regressions, we find that there are positive economic returns to English language skills (both listening and speaking) among workers in urban China. We also…

This paper estimates the return to an elite university education over a college graduate's career using the CHIP 2013 data. We find a substantial premium for graduating from an elite Chinese university at job entry, but it declines quickly with labor market experience. This pattern is entirely driven by the young cohorts who enter college after…

Using survey data on academic PhD students, influencing factors for PhD students' academic career intentions are explained from the perspectives of individual features and the academic labor market. The study found: (1) There is a diversification of PhD employment, with nearly one-third of academic PhDs going to nonacademic organizations; (2)…

This report shares data in the following categories as they relate to graduates in Ontario's economy: (1) Rising Ontario employer requirements for skills; (2) Matching skills to employer needs: pathways, entrepreneurship, and innovation; (3) Ontario's college graduate advantage compared to the U.S.; (4) International competitiveness: the quality…

This brief focuses on the population aged 25-34. The sample includes data from OECD member, OECD accession and G20 countries, for the years 2005-16 for OECD member countries and 2005-15 for non-OECD countries. The share of young adults (aged 25-34) with a tertiary education has grown over the past decade in OECD and G20 countries, and it is…

This report shares data in the following categories as they relate to graduates in Ontario's economy: (1) Number of jobs for young adults without post-secondary credentials; (2) Matching credentials to employer needs: an international comparison; (3) Matching credentials to employer needs: industry, entrepreneurship, and innovation; (4) Access to…

This dissertation study focuses on upper secondary technical and vocational education (TVE) in China. It empirically examines the characteristics of TVE participants and the labor market impacts of participating in upper secondary TVE relative to attending general high schools. Using nationally representative datasets from China, this study has…

The rapid decrease in gender inequality in education over the past several decades in China has drawn significant attention in the existing literature. Several factors have been proposed or examined to explain this decrease. However, few studies have examined this topic from the perspective of the changing job structure and skill requirements in…

A core mode of governance in the era of neoliberalism is through the production of "entrepreneurial self". This paper explores how the "entrepreneurial self" is produced for 21 Chinese immigrant women in Canada. The women displayed extraordinary entrepreneurialism by investing in Canadian education. Becoming entrepreneurial,…

This paper attempts to explore the connections between expanding female education and the participation of women in paid employment in Japan, China and India, three of Asia's largest economies. Analysis based on existing data and literature shows that despite the large expansion in educational access in these countries in the last half century,…

This article uses data from the China Urban Labour Survey administered across 12 cities in 2005 to estimate the economic returns to speaking standard Mandarin among internal migrants in China's urban labour market. The article builds on studies that estimate the economic returns to international immigrants of being fluent in the major language of…

Critiques of lifelong learning have focused on the neo-liberal underpinning of state policy, where individuals are expected to take responsibility for meeting the needs of changing labour market conditions in the post-Fordist economy. We treat lifelong learning as an "ideological frame" that (re)shapes how people see and understand…

Universalism is critical to the development of science because it promotes the objectivity of knowledge. Particularism, on the other hand, evaluates scientists' contributions based on functionally irrelevant characteristics, including personal attributes and academic origins. Previous studies found a persistent significant correlation between…