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Disparities in earnings and education in India

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  • P. Geetha Rani

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of different levels of education, religion, caste as well as the impact of living in urban and rural communities on earnings in India. Besides these conventional stratification, yet another academic caste which influence earnings-the English language ability, is also examined. The paper uses a large cross-section sample of India Human Development Survey to estimate Mincer and augmented Mincer equations. The rates of return estimates obtained in these data and method confirm that returns to education increase with the level of education across location, caste-religion and English language ability. Returns to lower levels of education are low across different groups, indicating the low quality of basic schooling in the country. Returns to higher education vary at a great deal ranging between 4.9% among the rural workers and 38.2% among fluent English ability group. This is in contrast to Duraisamy reporting the highest returns to secondary education in India, between the period 1983 and 1993-1994. In a decade's time, with changes in the economy and in the labour market, higher education especially the English language ability along with higher education brings in the highest wage premium.

Suggested Citation

  • P. Geetha Rani, 2014. "Disparities in earnings and education in India," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:oaefxx:doi:10.1080/23322039.2014.941510
    DOI: 10.1080/23322039.2014.941510
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    2. Steven Dunga & Lerato Mothibi, 2019. "Education And Earnings In South Africa: An Application Of The Mincerian Function," Proceedings of International Academic Conferences 9010584, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    3. K M, Siby, 2021. "Wage Earnings: Does Experience outweigh Education? Evidence from Ernakulam district of Kerala," MPRA Paper 107552, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Sikdar, Satadru, 2019. "Rate of Return to Education in India: Some Insights," Working Papers 19/270, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    5. Yasser Razak Hussain & Pranab Mukhopadhyay, 2023. "How Much do Education, Experience, and Social Networks Impact Earnings in India? A Panel Data Analysis Disaggregated by Class, Gender, Caste and Religion," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    6. Mamiko Takeuchi, 2021. "Determinants of Earnings and Gender Earnings Gaps among Highly Educated Workers within Major Cities in Asian Countries," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 166-186, June.
    7. Chen, Jie & Kanjilal-Bhaduri, Sanghamitra & Pastore, Francesco, 2022. "Updates on Returns to Education in India: Analysis Using PLFS 2018-19 Data," IZA Discussion Papers 15002, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Mamiko Takeuchi, 2019. "Earnings gaps among higher-educated workers withinmain cities insemi-industrializedandnewly industrialized Asian countries," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 19-06-Rev., Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics, revised Jul 2019.
    9. Aakanksha & Narendra Kumar Bishnoi, 2024. "Education and earnings: examining the returns across regular, casual, and self-employed labour markets," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 4(6), pages 1-21, June.

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