IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aecrev/v107y2017i5p374-78.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Returns to Education through Access to Higher-Paying Firms: Evidence from US Matched Employer-Employee Data

Author

Listed:
  • Niklas Engbom
  • Christian Moser

Abstract

We use administrative US matched employer-employee data merged with detailed information on individuals' academic records to assess the extent to which returns to education are mediated by the sorting of workers across firms. We present three results. First, we confirm findings in the earlier literature of large pay differences across higher education degrees. Second, we show that up to one quarter of pay premiums for higher degrees are explained by between-firm pay differences. Third, higher degrees are associated with greater representation at the best-paying firms. We conclude that employer heterogeneity is an important factor in mediating the returns to education.

Suggested Citation

  • Niklas Engbom & Christian Moser, 2017. "Returns to Education through Access to Higher-Paying Firms: Evidence from US Matched Employer-Employee Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 374-378, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:107:y:2017:i:5:p:374-78
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.p20171013
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrieve=-fnjyNBnJ5vcERYvQBVkK3BCj-0vG97o
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrieve=TiQ5Ws8v5qH_oGbTeRg-BNT6btuZvkcM
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Card & Jörg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2013. "Workplace Heterogeneity and the Rise of West German Wage Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(3), pages 967-1015.
    2. Hugo Reis & Paulo Guimarães & Pedro Portugal & Ana Rute Cardoso, 2018. "The returns to schooling unveiled," Working Papers w201805, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    3. Jorge Alvarez & Felipe Benguria & Niklas Engbom & Christian Moser, 2018. "Firms and the Decline in Earnings Inequality in Brazil," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 149-189, January.
    4. Gary S. Becker, 1962. "Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis," NBER Chapters, in: Investment in Human Beings, pages 9-49, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Kahn, Lisa B., 2010. "The long-term labor market consequences of graduating from college in a bad economy," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 303-316, April.
    6. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Introduction to "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings"," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 1-4, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. John M. Abowd & Francis Kramarz & David N. Margolis, 1999. "High Wage Workers and High Wage Firms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 67(2), pages 251-334, March.
    8. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Age and Experience Profiles of Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 64-82, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Erling Barth & Alex Bryson & James C. Davis & Richard Freeman, 2016. "It's Where You Work: Increases in the Dispersion of Earnings across Establishments and Individuals in the United States," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(S2), pages 67-97.
    10. Niklas Engbom & Christian Moser, 2022. "Earnings Inequality and the Minimum Wage: Evidence from Brazil," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(12), pages 3803-3847, December.
    11. Card, David, 2001. "Estimating the Return to Schooling: Progress on Some Persistent Econometric Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(5), pages 1127-1160, September.
    12. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling and Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 41-63, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1.
    14. Joseph G. Altonji & Seth D. Zimmerman, 2018. "The Costs of and Net Returns to College Major," NBER Chapters, in: Productivity in Higher Education, pages 133-176, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Martina Jasova & Caterina Mendicino & Ettore Panetti & José-Luis Peydró & Dominik Supera, 2021. "Monetary policy, labor income redistribution and the credit channel: Evidence from matched employer-employee and credit registers," Economics Working Papers 1832, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Mar 2023.
    2. Jorge Alvarez & Felipe Benguria & Niklas Engbom & Christian Moser, 2018. "Firms and the Decline in Earnings Inequality in Brazil," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 149-189, January.
    3. Cardoso, Ana Rute & Guimaraes, Paulo & Portugal, Pedro & Reis, Hugo, 2018. "The Returns to Schooling Unveiled," IZA Discussion Papers 11419, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Balogh, Gábor & Sipos, Norbert, 2019. "Pályakezdő közgazdászok bére a szakdiverzifikáció függvényében [Programme diversification effects on the salaries of freshly graduated economists]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 551-577.
    5. Manuel Macera & Hitoshi Tsujiyama, 2018. "Frictional Labor Markets, Education Choices and Wage Inequality," 2018 Meeting Papers 827, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    6. Pedro Portugal & Hugo Reis & Paulo Guimarães & Ana Rute Cardoso, 2023. "What lies behind returns to schooling: the role of labor market sorting and worker heterogeneity," Working Papers w202322, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    7. Cook, Nikolai, 2024. "Increasing student access through aid: Differences in difference-in-differences estimates," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Morchio, Iacopo & Moser, Christian, 2018. "The Gender Pay Gap: Micro Sources and Macro Consequences," MPRA Paper 99276, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 24 Mar 2020.
    2. Peydró, José-Luis & Jasova, Martina & Mendicino, Caterina & Panetti, Ettore & Supera, Dominik, 2021. "Monetary Policy, Labor Income Redistribution and the Credit Channel: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee and Credit Registe," CEPR Discussion Papers 16549, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Morchio, Iacopo & Moser, Christian, 2018. "The Gender Pay Gap: Micro Sources and Macro Consequences," MPRA Paper 99276, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 24 Mar 2020.
    4. Jorge Alvarez & Felipe Benguria & Niklas Engbom & Christian Moser, 2018. "Firms and the Decline in Earnings Inequality in Brazil," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 149-189, January.
    5. Serge Atherwood & Corey S Sparks, 2019. "Early-career trajectories of young workers in the U.S. in the context of the 2008–09 recession: The effect of labor market entry timing," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-30, March.
    6. Erling Barth & James Davis & Richard B. Freeman, 2018. "Augmenting the Human Capital Earnings Equation with Measures of Where People Work," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 71-97.
    7. David Card & Ana Rute Cardoso & Joerg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2018. "Firms and Labor Market Inequality: Evidence and Some Theory," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 13-70.
    8. Orsa Kekezi & Ron Boschma, 2021. "Returns to migration after job loss—The importance of job match," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(6), pages 1565-1587, September.
    9. Baptista, Rui & Lima, Francisco & Preto, Miguel Torres, 2012. "How former business owners fare in the labor market? Job assignment and earnings," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 263-276.
    10. Oliver Morrissey & Susan Namirembe Kavuma & Richard Upward, 2015. "Private returns to education for wage-employees and the self-employed in Uganda," WIDER Working Paper Series 021, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Saule Kemelbayeva, 2020. "Returns to schooling in Kazakhstan: an update using a pseudo-panel approach," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 437-487, September.
    12. Stanislav Avdeev, 2020. "Zero Returns To Higher Education: Evidence From A Natural Experiment," HSE Working papers WP BRP 236/EC/2020, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    13. Domenico Depalo & Sabrina Di Addario, "undated". "Shedding Light on Inventors' Returns to Patents," Development Working Papers 375, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    14. Robert Gibbons & Michael Waldman, 2006. "Enriching a Theory of Wage and Promotion Dynamics inside Firms," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(1), pages 59-108, January.
    15. Susan Namirembe Kavuma & Oliver Morrissey & Richard Upward, 2015. "Private Returns to Education for Wage-employees and the Self-employed in Uganda," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-021, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Laura C. Blanco, 2019. "Emparejamiento entre competencias y empleo en el mercado laboral costarricense," Working Papers 201905, Universidad de Costa Rica, revised Oct 2019.
    17. Lindgren, Petter Y. & Presterud, Ane Ofstad, 2021. "Expanding the Norwegian Armed Forces in the Time of Corona: Benefit-Cost Analysis in the Context of High Unemployment Rate," MPRA Paper 106405, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. repec:zna:indecs:v:19:y:2021:i:4:p:189-209 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. W. Bentley MacLeod & Miguel Urquiola, 2018. "Is Education Consumption or Investment? Implications for the Effect of School Competition," NBER Working Papers 25117, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Garcia-Louzao, Jose & Hospido, Laura & Ruggieri, Alessandro, 2023. "Dual returns to experience," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    21. Hans Dietrich & Harald Pfeifer & Felix Wenzelmann, 2016. "The more they spend, the more I earn? Firms' training investments and post-training wages of apprentices," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0116, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:107:y:2017:i:5:p:374-78. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.