Returns to Skills and the College Premium

Despite increases in the college earnings premium to persistently high levels, investment in college education remains low. We can understand this apparent puzzle by considering the risk of attending college and, in particular, the possibility of failing to graduate. Students with a reasonable probability of completing college already enroll, and for those who do not enroll, the low chance of completion blunts the impact of the rising college premium. In the absence of improved college readiness, our quantitative results suggest that continuing long-standing trends in skill-biased technological change can be expected primarily to increase earnings inequality rather than college attainment. (JEL E24, I22, I23, J24, J31, O33)

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Competition, firm size and returns to skills: Evidence from currency shocks and market liberalisations

World Economy ◽

10.1111/twec.12491 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 40 (12) ◽

pp. 2676-2703

Author(s):

Michele Raitano ◽

Francesco Vona

Keyword(s):

Firm Size ◽

Returns To Skills

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Why Didn&Apos;T the College Premium Rise Everywhere? Employment Protection and On-the-Job Investment in Skills

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.3621837 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Matthias Doepke ◽

Ruben Gaetani

Keyword(s):

Employment Protection ◽

College Premium

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Returns to skills and the speed of reforms: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe, China, and Russia

Journal of Comparative Economics ◽

10.1016/j.jce.2005.03.003 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

pp. 351-370 ◽

Cited By ~ 77

Author(s):

Belton M. Fleisher ◽

Klara Sabirianova ◽

Xiaojun Wang

Keyword(s):

Eastern Europe ◽

Central And Eastern Europe ◽

Returns To Skills

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Employers’ preferences for IT-retrainees: evidence from a discrete choice experiment

International Journal of Manpower ◽

10.1108/ijm-01-2019-0001 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 40 (7) ◽

pp. 1273-1287

Author(s):

Melvin Vooren ◽

Carla Haelermans ◽

Wim Groot ◽

Henriette Maassen van den Brink

Keyword(s):

Discrete Choice Experiment ◽

Discrete Choice ◽

Choice Experiment ◽

Soft Skills ◽

Business Environment ◽

Soft Skill ◽

Content Type ◽

Monetary Value ◽

Returns To Skills ◽

It Training

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a discrete choice experiment (DCE) on the competencies of potential information technology (IT)-retrainees. The results give insights in the monetary value and relative returns to both soft and hard skills. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply a DCE in which the authors propose seven pairs of hypothetical candidates to employers based in the municipality of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. These hypothetical candidates differ on six observable skill attributes and have different starting wages. The authors use the inference from the DCE to calculate the marginal rates of substitution (MRS). The MRS gives an indication of the monetary value of each skill attribute. Findings Employers prefer a candidate who possesses a degree in an exact field over a similar candidate from another discipline. Programming experience from previous jobs is the most highly valued characteristic for an IT-retrainee. Employers would pay a candidate with basic programming experience a 53 percent higher starting wage. The most high-valued soft skill is listening skills, for which employers are willing to pay a 46 percent higher wage. The results of this paper show that both hard and soft skills are important, but not all soft skills are equally important. Originality/value The results on the returns to skills provide guidelines to tailor IT training and retraining programs to the needs of the business environment. A key strength of this paper is that the authors have information on the preference orderings for different skills and kinds of experience.

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