Earnings among young and mature Danish university graduates

Abstract

This paper studies the association between graduation age and earnings among university graduates in Denmark, which is a country with one of the oldest student populations in the world. Exploiting a rich data-set from administrative registers, the current study is able to track labour market career for a longer period of time and to control for more labour market-relevant variables than any previous study of graduation age and earnings. The results show that graduation age has either a slightly positive or an insignificant impact on starting wages within the public sector or a negative impact on starting wages among private sector employees. This applies to both genders, but the differences are stronger among male employees. The analyses of long-term wages reveal a more homogeneous pattern. Mature graduates earn less in all the years investigated. The wage differences are greatest among male graduates employed in private enterprises, and the gap increases throughout their careers.

The returns to mature-age education in Australia

“…In this respect, we find evidence that qualifications obtained at younger ages yield higher wage and occupational status pay offs for both men and women. This is consistent with international findings indicating that delaying graduation from tertiary education results in substantial reductions in the college wage premium (Taniguchi, 2005) and that wage growth occurs faster amongst early than late graduates (Klausen, 2016). The reasons, however, are less clear.…”

Estudantes Não-Tradicionais No Ensino Superior

“…2016-abr. , p.97-111 ISSN:2446 Dinamarca por Klausen (2014) mostra-nos que a idade -muitas vezes valorizada como experiência em discursos retóricos -representa uma barreira muito significativa. Não só a idade tem influência na condição salarial, como uma parte significativa das ofertas de emprego obriga à realização de um estágio profissional, deixando de fora muitos graduados maduros.…”