Using longitudinal data of college graduates in Colombia, we estimate labor market returns to postsecondary degrees and to various skills--including literacy, numeracy, foreign language, and field-specific skills. Graduates of academic programs and schools of higher reputation obtain higher earnings relative to vocational public programs. A one…

In high-income countries in recent years, the non-academic labour market destination of PhD-holders, i.e., the segmentation by industry sector of destination, has emerged as an issue. Universities and other research-intensive institutions can no longer absorb the major share of PhD-holders. Their employment has become a matter of segmentation both…

Graduate transitions and pathways do not naturally involve moving smoothly or sequentially from education into the world of work. Instead university graduates move through employment, entrepreneurship, unemployment and continued further education as they generate livelihoods. For African universities to be student-centred, with a focus on student…

This dissertation includes three essays on the economics of higher education. In the first chapter, I study the effects of college transfer. Over one-third of college students in the United States transfer between institutions, yet little is known about how transferring affect students' educational and labor market outcomes. Using administrative…

This paper examines the bias arising from individuals' migration from administrative outcome data, with a focus on the labor market consequences of postsecondary education. We find that out-of-state migration is particularly problematic for high-earners, flagship graduates, and certain majors. Consequently, the effect of graduating from a flagship…

I study the effect of higher education on lifecycle earnings and focus on three ways in which education may help drive earnings: the effect of higher education on one's skills, the effect on one's ability to accumulate new skills in the future, and the relationship between education and one's likelihood of unemployment. In the first chapter, I…

Purpose: This study aims to explore a specific case of the alleged mismatch between higher education and employability by investigating long-term work life outcomes for graduates from a small university college in Sweden, and the associations between these outcomes and the graduates' social background, academic achievements and study approach in…

Racialized individuals are generally more likely than their non-racialized and non-Indigenous counterparts to pursue a university-level education. Despite this, their labour market outcomes are often less favourable. Using data from the integrated file of the Postsecondary Student Information System, the 2016 Census and the T1 Family File, this…

This paper examines the potential earnings premium associated with a doctoral degree (PhDs, ISCED9) over postgraduate degrees (PGs, or Masters, ISCED7) in the UK. We assess this premium using a decade-worth of UK Labour Force Survey data (2011-2020). To explore the possible endogenous choice of post-graduate tracks, this paper deploys linear…

We explore the impact of excess credits, defined as additional credit hours accumulated by students beyond the required number of hours, on labor market outcomes. We consider whether additional credits have any impact on the labor market outcomes of job mismatch and income. Data are taken from the Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) study, a…

Policy discussions in the United States on the link between college majors and earnings have under-appreciated the role of cognitive skills. This study uses the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, a unique data set that contains information on individual cognitive skills, college majors and earnings to investigate the…

Using multivariate linear regression models, this study estimates the relationship between graduates' self-reported skill improvements from attending a virtual university, the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), and their salaries after obtaining the degree. Our results show that graduates made considerable earnings gains and especially high rates…

This study examined the factors that determined labour market outcomes for recently graduated, underrepresented college students. Chile's largest higher education institution, which has a significant number of first-generation students from more deprived social sectors, was considered. A quantitative methodology was applied using logistic and…

This is an applied econometric analysis of labour market data for the United States. We study the impact of several factors on overflow of overeducated employees into various job categories. We use panel data regression analysis with fixed and random effects. We also use data visualisation to investigate the overeducation trends during 2002-2016…

Studying abroad can positively influence students' personality development, transversal skills, and labour market outcomes. At the same time, students from a high social origin are more likely to study abroad than students from a low social origin. Against this background, recent research has suggested that international student mobility (ISM) may…