Recent Flattening in the Higher Education Wage Premium: Polarization, Skill Downgrading, or Both?

Robert Valletta

No 10194, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Wage gaps between workers with a college or graduate degree and those with only a high school degree rose rapidly in the United States during the 1980s. Since then, the rate of growth in these wage gaps has progressively slowed, and though the gaps remain large, they were essentially unchanged between 2010 and 2015. I assess this flattening over time in higher education wage premiums with reference to two related explanations for changing U.S. employment patterns: (i) a shift away from middle-skilled occupations driven largely by technological change ("polarization"); and (ii) a general weakening in the demand for advanced cognitive skills ("skill downgrading"). Analyses of wage and employment data from the U.S. Current Population Survey suggest that both factors have contributed to the flattening of higher education wage premiums.

Keywords: higher education; wages; skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 47 pages
Date: 2016-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Published - published in: C. R. Hulten and V. A. Ramey (eds.), Education, Skills, and Technical Change, Oxford University Press, 2018

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Related works:
Chapter: Recent Flattening in the Higher Education Wage Premium: Polarization, Skill Downgrading, or Both? (2018)
Working Paper: Recent Flattening in the Higher Education Wage Premium: Polarization, Skill Downgrading, or Both? (2016)
Working Paper: Recent Flattening in the Higher Education Wage Premium: Polarization, Skill Downgrading, or Both? (2016)
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