Caught in the Cycle: Economic Conditions at Enrolment and Labour Market Outcomes of College Graduates*

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alena Bičáková ◽  
Guido Matias Cortes ◽  
Jacopo Mazza
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
College Graduates ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
School Outcomes ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
High School Outcomes ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes ◽  
College Grades

Abstract We show that cohorts of male graduates who start college during worse economic times earn higher average wages than those who start during better times. This is not explained by differences in selection into employment, economic conditions at graduation, or field of study choices. Graduates who enrol in bad times are not more positively selected based on their high-school outcomes, but they achieve higher college grades and earn higher wages conditional on their grades. Patterns for female graduates are similar, though less robust. Our results suggest that individuals who enrol during downturns exert more effort during their studies.

University dropouts vs high school graduates in the school-to-work transition

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuela Ghignoni ◽  
Giuseppe Croce ◽  
Alessandro d’Ambrosio
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
High School Graduates ◽  
School To Work ◽  
Dropping Out ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
School To Work Transition ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Transition ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider the enrolment at university and the subsequent possible dropout as a piece of the school-to-work transition and ask whether it improves or worsens the labour market outcomes a few years after graduation from the high school. Design/methodology/approach The analysis exploits data from the upper secondary graduate survey by ISTAT on a cohort of high school graduates and investigates the effect of dropping out four years after graduation. The labour market outcomes of university dropouts are compared to the outcomes of high school graduates who never enrolled at university. A propensity score matching approach is applied. The model is also estimated on the subsamples of males and females. Findings The findings show that spending a period at university and leaving it before completion makes the transition to work substantially more difficult. Both the probability of being NEET and getting a bad job increase in the case of dropout, while no relevant effect is found on earnings. Moreover, the impact of university dropout tends to be more harmful the longer the spell from enrolment to dropping out. Separate estimates by gender point out that females appear to be relatively more affected in the case of dropping out without a fallback plan. Originality/value While the existing studies in the literature on the school-to-work transition mostly focus on the determinants of the dropout, this paper investigates whether and how the employment outcomes are affected by dropping out in Italy. Moreover, university dropouts are compared to high school graduates with no university experience, rather than to university graduates. Finally, evidence on the mechanisms driving the effect of dropping out is provided, by considering timing and motivations for dropping out.

The Social-Origins Gap in Labour Market Outcomes: Compensatory and Boosting Advantages Using a Micro-Class Approach

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrizio Bernardi ◽  
Carlos J Gil-Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
College Graduates ◽  
High Grade ◽  
Social Origin ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Low Educated

Abstract Recent studies document a social-origins gap or direct effect of social origin (DESO) on labour market outcomes over and above respondents’ education, challenging the idea that post-industrial societies are education-based meritocracies. Yet, the literature offers insufficient explanations on DESO heterogeneity across education and different labour market outcomes. Little is also known about underlying mechanisms. We contribute by answering two questions: (i) How does DESO vary when comparing college-degree holders with non-holders? (ii) For which specific parental and children’s occupations is the largest DESO observed? We focus on Spain, using a large new dataset (n = 144,286). Firstly, we find a larger DESO on socioeconomic status among non-degree holders, and on income among degree holders. We propose the notions of compensatory advantage in occupational attainment and boosting advantage in income for high social-origin individuals to explain these opposite patterns, drawing from ‘downward mobility avoidance’ and ‘effectively maintained inequality’ theories. Secondly, we map origin and destination micro-classes where DESO is largest. High-grade managerial and professional parental occupations, characterized by social closure and influence in large organizations, are the origin micro-classes exerting the largest DESO. We also find that compensatory advantage for low-educated children from advantaged origins is related to their higher chances of accessing managerial occupations, while boosting advantage on income among college graduates is observed for high-grade managers and liberal professionals, suggesting that micro-class reproduction may partially account for boosting advantage. We conclude by discussing the generalizability of our findings to other countries and their implications for research on DESO, meritocracy and social mobility.

Labour Market Outcomes and Skill Acquisition of High-School Dropouts

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Campolieti ◽  
Tony Fang ◽  
Morley Gunderson
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Skill Acquisition ◽  
High School Dropouts ◽  
School Dropouts ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes

scholarly journals Social assimilation and immigrants’ labour market outcomes

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matloob Piracha ◽  
Massimiliano Tani ◽  
Zhiming Cheng ◽  
Ben Zhe Wang
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Longitudinal Data ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes ◽  
Satisfaction Measures ◽  
The Way

AbstractWe analyse how immigrants’ level of social assimilation is related to their labour market outcomes. More precisely, we estimate the association between assimilation and employment, wages, underemployment, three measures of job satisfaction, overeducation and wages. Using Australian longitudinal data, we find that assimilation is strongly associated with employment and wages as well as a number of job satisfaction measures. We then split our data and repeat the analysis for before and after the financial crisis of 2008–2009. We find important differences in the way assimilation is associated with different measures of labour market outcomes under different economic conditions. Finally, we explore mechanisms that may underlie the results.

Social origins, track choices and labour-market outcomes: evidence from the French case

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estelle Herbaut ◽  
Carlo Barone ◽  
Mathieu Ichou ◽  
Louis-André Vallet
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Service Class ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes ◽  
Market Benefits ◽  
Academic Qualifications

This paper examines the labour-market returns to different high school tracks in the French context. We use rich nationally representative longitudinal data running from the beginning of secondary education until entrance into the labour market: the Panel d’élèves du second degré, recrutement 1995 combined with the Entrée dans la vie adulte-EVA follow-up survey. Analysing these data, we are able to identify the consequences of track placement in high school on various labour-market outcomes controlling for social and academic selection into tracking. Our results show that academic diplomas offer higher labour-market benefits than vocational diplomas, even when adjusting for selection into tracks based on prior school performance, family background and other socio-demographic characteristics. The advantage of the academic track stays large, both for the whole group of upper secondary graduates and for those who have not achieved a tertiary degree. Our results further indicate that academic qualifications are even more rewarding for service-class graduates. We discuss the theoretical and policy implications of our results for processes of intergenerational reproduction.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Secondary academic diplomas offer higher labour market benefits than vocational ones, even when adjusting for selection into tracks.</li><br /><li>The academic path is the most rewarding option in France, even among students who do not complete tertiary education.</li><br /><li>Secondary academic qualifications are even more rewarding for service class graduates, in terms of boosting access to service class jobs.</li></ul>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document