Place of study, field of study and labour-market region: What matters for wage differences among higher-education graduates?

Abstract

This paper focuses on the structure and extent of wage differences among graduates of different higher-education institutions in Germany. We ask how large these differences are and how they relate to fields of study and regional labour markets. The results from our application of cross-classified random-effects models to a cohort of the DZHW Graduate Panel show that there is a considerable amount of wage variation depending on the graduates’ alma mater. However, this variation can be fully explained by structural characteristics: Selection based on individual characteristics is of only minor importance, while regional labour markets do matter. Most of all, however, the differences relate to fields of study.

Inequality in the Initial Wage of College Graduates at the College-Level Perspective

“…This study used the micro-survey data of the "Report on the Employment and Entrepreneurship Development of Chinese College Graduates" to empirically study the effect of the wage premium of college graduates on the level of institutions, finding that the higher the college level is, the higher the initial wages also are and that there is an obvious gender wage difference among college graduates, and political status, academic ranking, and student cadre experience, as well as the nature of the workplace contributed to the formation of wage premiums to a certain extent. The results confirm the previous studies from Borgen (2014) [7], Jason (2012) [9], Kopecny and Hillmert (2021) [10], Titus (2010) [20], Rafferty (2012) [28], and Fan and Sturman (2019) [35]. We drew the conclusions from three aspects as follow:…”

“…Jason (2012) found through the analysis of empirical data that factors such as college type and college characteristics had a significant impact on the initial wage of undergraduate graduates [9]. Kopecny and Hillmert (2021) used an application of cross-classified random-effects models to a cohort of the DZHW Graduate Panel showing that there is a considerable amount of wage variation depending on the graduates' alma mater [10]. Because college level is a very difficult concept to define, correlated research results are few.…”