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The college wage premium, overeducation, and the expansion of higher education in the UK
Author(s)
Date Issued
2007-06-12
Date Available
2010-02-09T15:29:15Z
Abstract
This paper provides findings from the UK Labour Force Surveys from 1993 to 2003
on the financial private returns to a degree – the "college premium". The data covers a decade when the university participation rate doubled – yet we find no significant1 evidence that the mean return to a degree dropped in response to this large increase in the flow of graduates. However, we do find quite large falls in returns when we compare the cohorts that went to university before and after the recent rapid expansion of HE. The evidence is consistent with the notion that new graduates are a close substitute for recent graduates but poor substitutes for older graduates. There appears to have been a very recent increase in the number of graduates getting "non-graduate" jobs but, conditional on getting a graduate job the returns seem
stable. Our results are consistent across almost all degree subjects – the exception
being maths and engineering where we find that, especially for women, there is a
large increase in the proportion with maths and engineering degrees getting graduate
jobs and that, conditional on this, the return is rising.
Sponsorship
Great Britain. Department for Education and Skills (DfES)
Economic and Social Research Council
Type of Material
Working Paper
Publisher
University College Dublin. Geary Institute
Series
UCD Geary Institute Discussion Paper Series
WP2007/20
Classification
I20
J30
Subject – LCSH
Wages--College graduates--Great Britain
Wages--Effect of education on--Great Britain
College graduates--Supply and demand--Great Britain
Language
English
Status of Item
Not peer reviewed
This item is made available under a Creative Commons License
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