The labor market returns to 'first in family' university graduates

Anna Adamecz-Völgyi, Morag Henderson and Nikki Shure

No 1057, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: The labor market returns to 'first in family' university graduates We examine how first in family (FiF) graduates (those whose parents do not have university degrees) fare on the labor market. We find that among women, FiF graduates earn 7.4% less on average than graduate women whose parents have a university degree. For men, we do not find a FiF wage penalty. A decomposition of the wage difference between FiF and non-FiF graduates reveals two interesting findings. First, two-thirds of the female FiF penalty are explained by certain characteristics, including: having lower attainment in school, attending an elite university, selecting particular degree courses, working in smaller firms, working in jobs that do not require their degree, and motherhood. Second, FiF graduate men also differ in their endowments from non-FiF graduate men; however, FiF men earn higher returns on their endowments than non-FiF men and thus compensate for their relative social disadvantage, while FiF women do not. We also estimate the returns to graduation for potential FiF and non- FiF young people. We find that the wage returns to graduation are not lower among FiF graduates compared to those who match their parents with a degree. The effects of coming from a lower educated family are large and positive for men and large and negative for women in general, irrespective of graduation. We provide some context, offer explanations, and suggest implications of these findings.

Keywords: socioeconomic gaps; intergenerational educational mobility; higher education; labor market returns; gender economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 I26 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ban, nep-edu, nep-eur and nep-lma
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/250889/1/GLO-DP-1057.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The labor market returns to “first-in-family” university graduates (2023)
Working Paper: The labor market returns to ‘first in family’ university graduates (2021)
Working Paper: The labor market returns to ‘first in family’ university graduates (2021)
Working Paper: The Labor Market Returns to 'First in Family' University Graduates (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:1057

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