We use the near universe of U.S. online job ads to document four new facts about the skills employers demand from college majors. First, some skills--social and organizational--are demanded from all majors whereas others--financial and customer service--are demanded from only particular majors. Second, some majors have skill demand profiles that…

The authors of this article make a case for using Fink's (2013) taxonomy of significant learning in the economics classroom to improve standard-based economics education and to continue transforming the discipline to reduce social inequality along multiple dimensions, including gender, race, and class. Fink's framework is defined by student…

Recent evidence indicates substantial heterogeneity in the returns to skills across countries, but only a few studies have explained the varying patterns in the return to skills. Using the 2013 STEP data for Ghana and Kenya, we estimate the causal effect of cognitive and noncognitive skills on a large set of labour market outcomes by controlling…

Post-baccalaureate education has emerged as one of the fastest growing segments of higher education. Over the past decade, master's degree enrollment in the U.S. has grown 35%--and the share of adults that hold a master's degree has gone from less than 7% to nearly 9% of the population. Keeping the supply and demand dynamics of basic economic…

In recent years concerns about inequality have been growing in prominence within UK policy debates. The many causes of inequality of earnings and income are complex in their interactions and their tendency to reinforce one another. This makes inequality an intractable or "wicked" policy problem, particularly within a contemporary context…

In the last two decades, we have witnessed a rapid expansion of higher education in Mainland China and Taiwan, recording a significant increase in higher education enrolments in these two Chinese societies. The massification of higher education in China and Taiwan has inevitably resulted in an oversupply of university graduates, with growing…

It can be difficult choosing a career. When planning for the future, knowing which occupations are expected to grow--and which aren't--is valuable information. The "Occupational Outlook Handbook" (OOH), published every 2 years by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), features projections of job outlook and employment prospects. The 2012-13…

The existence of an inverse relationship between wage levels and regional unemployment rates, commonly referred to as the wage curve, is well established in the economic literature and was described by Card (1995) as being "close to an empirical law of economics". This microeconomic wage-unemployment relationship, first identified by…

Can you name 20 influences on pay that could cause a difference in earnings between two ostensibly equal employees? This short, involving exercise can be used to illustrate the numerous influences that affect how employees' pay is determined, for example, education, experience required for the job, supply and demand, company size, seniority, and…

As they work to master the supply-and-demand model, high school economics students spend considerable time studying competitive markets for such goods as wheat, apples, and corn. They usually spend less time studying markets for labor. That is a shame, because high school students have a vital interest in understanding why some jobs pay more than…

Study sought to explain determinants of public higher education enrollment across states at public colleges and universities. A policy simulation, based on empirical results, suggests that if tuition continues to rise, states are faced with reducing supply through lower state appropriations, or attempting to maintain current supply by increasing…

In Taiwan, the Ministry of Education controls the number of students who are allowed to attend all institutions of higher education. Presents evidence that this control, rather than changes in relative demand for workers with higher education, was the more important factor causing changes in the relative wages of these workers between 1978 and…

The annual census of industrial employment, production workers, women, the workweek, scientists and engineers, chemical employment, wages, and productivity in the chemical industry is presented. Trends in the numbers of workers, productivity, and unit labor costs are illustrated in graphs. (CW)

Using 1940-90 Censuses, a study of changes in male wage inequality and skill premiums shows that relative demand for most skilled workers rose steadily over the years. The pace of industrial change, especially in blue-collar manufacturing, was inversely related to the overall growth in wage inequality. (SK)

Investigates determinants behind the spectacular higher education enrollment growth in Belgium since 1953, using a demand model that integrates consumption and investment aspects and empirically tests time-series data specifications between 1953 and 1992. Income and foregone earnings are driving enrollments. Income, opportunity costs, and the wage…