Unbundling Returns to Postsecondary Degrees and Skills: Evidence from Colombia

Matias Busso (), Sebastián Montaño () and Juan Munoz-Morales
Additional contact information
Matias Busso: Inter-American Development Bank
Sebastián Montaño: University of Maryland

No 17283, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using longitudinal data of college graduates in Colombia, we estimate labor market returns to postsecondary degrees and to various skills—including literacy, numeracy, foreign language, and field-specific skills. Graduates of academic programs and schools of higher reputation obtain higher earnings relative to vocational public programs. A one standard deviation increase in each skill predicts average earnings increases of one to three percent. Returns vary along the earnings distribution, with tenure, with the degree of job specialization, and by gender. Our results imply that degrees and skills capture different human capital components that are rewarded differently in the labor market.

Keywords: field-specific; returns to skills; returns to education; numeracy; literacy; foreign language; Colombia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 I24 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2024-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lam, nep-lma and nep-ltv
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Published - published in: Education Economics , 2024, 33 (1), 1-18

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Related works:
Journal Article: Unbundling returns to postsecondary degrees and skills: evidence from Colombia (2025)
Working Paper: Unbundling returns to postsecondary degrees and skills: evidence from Colombia (2024)
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