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This study aims to analyze the wage differentials of the majors in college education in Turkey, which is a country implementing an ongoing expansion in college education in recent years.

The study implements Mincreian wage regression using ordinary least squares, Heckman two-step estimation and quantile regression with sample selection correction by using household labor force surveys of TurkStat from the years 2014–2017.

The findings indicate one of the highest heterogeneity, close to 0.50 log points, between majors in the literature. The within-heterogeneity created by majors is highest among the graduates of social-behavioral sciences, law, biology, physics, mathematics, statistics, computer, engineering and manufacturing, as shown by a 90–10 difference, which is almost 700% for some of these majors. This study shows that the natural science and technical majors that are expected to be more productive and to be paid more fall behind in the wage distribution.

Estimation results show that natural science majors, except for subjects allied to medicine and engineering, are paid lower than law and service-sector-related majors. This indicates that the predictions of the skill-biased technical change hypothesis are not valid in the wage profiles in Turkey and that some majors supply more than the sectoral needs. This casts doubts on the effectiveness of the ongoing higher education expansion process of the country.

This study contributes to the literature on wage differentials of college majors, an area with limited studies. This is the first study analyzing wage differentials of the field of studies by correcting sample selection bias for the Turkish case.

This study investigates the impact of the increasing proportion of older workers in the workforce by establishing a theoretical framework and estimating the degree of substitutability between them and their younger counterparts.

The first step is to establish a theoretical framework that combines older and younger workers with imperfect substitutability in the production of final goods within an aggregate production function. The author then derives an equation that relates the relative wage, relative supply and elasticity of substitution between the worker types, for use in estimation. Using data from Japan’s Basic Survey on Wage Structure and Population Census from 2010 to 2019 across 47 prefectures, the author estimates the elasticity of substitution between older and younger workers in Japan.

The author finds that workers aged 55 and over and their younger counterparts are gross substitutes, and the estimated elasticity of substitution is in the range of 2.33–2.86. This implies that a 10% increase in the relative number of workers aged 55 and older leads to a fall in their relative wage in the range of 3.5–4.3%. The study estimations suggest that since 2010, there has been a convergence in the relative wage of older workers across Japan’s prefectures.

Understanding the degree of substitutability between older and younger workers is essential for quantitatively assessing the impact of workforce aging, technological advancements and labor policies on the wage distribution. This study estimates the elasticity of substitution between the two worker types based on a theoretical model, and utilizes recent datasets and methodology not adequately addressed in previous literature.

The last two decades have been characterised by a rise in income and wage inequality in a wide range of countries, including European transition countries. The rise in globalisation is one major factor explaining this increasing wage inequality. International trade and FDI have increased significantly since the beginning of transition and the purpose of this paper is to focus on whether FDI plays an important role in explaining the pattern of wage inequality in selected transition countries.

A cross-country empirical investigation has been conducted using two alternative measures of wage inequality: the Gini coefficient and the Theil index. Several model specifications and estimation strategies have been employed to obtain consistent estimates and to check for the robustness of the results.

The results indicate that a rising share of inward FDI in gross domestic product (GDP) increased wage inequality in transition economies, though its overall effect was relatively small. Considering the long run, there is no clear evidence of a concave relationship between FDI and wage inequality, which may be a consequence of the relatively low levels of FDI in many transition countries.

Inwards FDI has made a small contribution to increasing wage inequality in European transition economies. However, its overall beneficial effects on labour markets in these countries suggest that rather than restricting FDI governments should target increasing the supply of skilled labour.

This new empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that an increased inward FDI stock as a share of GDP increases wage inequality in transition economies, however, this relationship is a complex one. Differences in average wages, wage differentials, employment shares of skilled workers and relative size of the foreign-owned sector are all likely to be important for the behaviour of wage inequality.

The study aims to examine the factors that determine the success of graduates in the labour market. This success is measured in several ways, namely, above-average wages in the economy, employment in accordance with the field of study and job satisfaction. The research explores the employment outcomes of graduates from Jagiellonian University, which is the oldest and one of the best in Poland. Not only does the analysis focus on degree-related predictors such as discipline or faculty, but it is also extended to include activities undertaken during studies and family background.

The analysis is based on data collected in the graduates' career survey, which is conducted six months after graduation. For this article, a database of over 6,000 graduates from four subsequent editions of the survey was compiled. In order to identify the predictors of graduates' success, a logistic regression model was applied.

The study reveals that graduates' success in the labour market is influenced not only by their discipline, but also by the activities undertaken during their studies, the type of studies and demographic features. Studies in natural sciences give chance for higher earnings, job matching and satisfaction. The humanities and social sciences increase only graduates’ group satisfaction. The impact of activities during studies is diversified – those matched to studies increase the job matching and those unmatched lower the earnings, job matching and satisfaction. Parents' level of education resulted in salary increase. The results also confirm the premises of behavioural theory.

Firstly, the main research limitation is that data of one particular university's graduates are used, so the results should be interpreted in the context of Poland only. Secondly, the authors propose a precise concept of success; however, it could be refined in any future study. This limitation could be mitigated by the flexibility of the model, which guarantees that other predictors of success could be involved. Furthermore, the article was based on data collected before the COVID-19 pandemic, when the labour market was completely different, so it also could be revised now.

The results of the analysis can be used when preparing the University’s educational offer. Since various predictors are implemented in the model, the information could be useful not only for future students, but also for current students, so they can make a more data-driven decision about their future careers. Additionally, University careers’ advisors are provided with knowledge on the determinants of graduates' success. Taking a broader view, the research findings are also informative for labour market institutions.

The paper offers an advanced analysis in a field that is under-researched in many transition countries, including Poland, i.e. graduates' entry into the workplace. Although the study provides insight into the factors that determine the labour market success of one particular university's graduates, this modelling can be applied to the empirical data of another higher education institution’s (HEI's) graduates.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate linkages in US labor market between importance of specific skills, education, or training requirements, and private average salary for occupations not characterized as requiring a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Data set constructed that matches 474 less than bachelor’s occupations to private average salary, education, or training requirements category, and 35 specific skills. Statistical and regression analysis has been done to assess linkages between these variables.

Highest returns associated with cognitive skills, quantitative skills, and other core academic basic skills set followed by traditional blue-collar technical skills. Interpersonal skills and related social skills set exhibited weak, and sometimes negative, association with private average salary by occupation.

Study of only US labor market at single point of time, findings may not generalize to either non US markets or occupations requiring bachelor’s degree or higher.

Workers in the less than bachelor’s labor market have greater upside salary potential if they obtain postsecondary certificates or associates’ degrees and target occupations placing a greater importance on cognitive skills, quantitative skills, and core academic basic skills than if they target traditional blue-collar technical skill occupations.

Social policies to enhance earnings for workers lacking bachelor’s degrees must target improving core generic transferable academic skills as well as vocationally specific training.

This if the first study that links these many specific skills to salary variation across less than bachelor’s occupations.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a systematic review of the literature that explores under‐employment among recent graduates. Literature from a range of disciplines is reviewed in an attempt to further a theoretical understanding. In doing this, the secondary aim is to identify avenues for future research.

The paper adopts a systematic literature review methodology to answer the question “What is graduate underemployment?”

The review highlights significant issues around the conceptualisation and measurement of graduate under‐employment. It argues that individual volition and meaning making are important issues that to date remain under‐researched in relation to graduate under‐employment. The paper argues that the most appropriate basis for developing a theoretical understanding of graduate under‐employment is to draw upon relevant theoretical frameworks from career studies – specifically those on the objective‐subjective duality of career, career indecision, and career success. This approach provides a greater focus on the dynamics of the individual's experiences.

This review has implications for a range of stakeholders including students, graduates, teachers and careers advisers, parents, universities, employers, HR professionals and policy makers.

In the context of policy debates surrounding the purpose and value of higher education, this review brings together the highly fragmented perspectives on a phenomenon that encapsulates many of the issues being debated.

This study aims to explore the role of formal education in managerial career attainment and how this role has changed over time.

The personnel records of two cohorts of managers who entered the firm at different times in a large internal labor market company were examined. The study encompassed years of education, subject of degree, timing of degree conferral, and quality of educational institution. Career attainment was regressed on the control variables and the hypothesized predictor variables using hierarchical multiple regression analysis.

The research suggests that the importance of having an undergraduate degree seems to be increasing, while the importance of the selectivity of the university seems to be decreasing with respect to career attainment. Also, majoring in business continues to be an important factor related to career attainment.

Future research focusing specifically on the differences in managerial career attainment of individuals who stay with their initial firm versus those who change employers would be beneficial. It would also be interesting to focus on the different reasons why people go back to school to obtain a degree.

Obtaining a degree after entering the firm was not related to career attainment. Universities have advocated the benefits of obtaining a degree to students who are already in the workforce. These results must be investigated further.

The data for this study were obtained from occupational records and allowed a more detailed analysis of an actual internal labor market organization and a longitudinal look at the changing role of education in relationship to career attainment.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the occupational specialization in rural labor market by analyzing the nature of part-time farming in rural China and estimating the impact of off-farm experience on the individual’s persistence and exit of part-time farming as well as its heterogeneity.

Using the panel data collected in 100 villages and 2,000 households across five provinces in 2008, 2012 and 2016, this study provides insights on the nature of part-time farming in rural labor market and find the impact and mechanism of off-farm employment experience on exiting part-time farming by adopting event history analysis.

Part-time farming is a stable long-run occupation in rural labor market of China from 2008 to 2015. Off-farm employment experience generally has positive effects on long-term part-time farming and the probability of exiting part-time farming. It significantly promotes female to exit part-time farming.

Based on the two-sector model, this study builds a conceptual framework of off-farm experience and occupational specialization and sets a theoretical basis of hazard model when using event history analysis. This study contributes to identify the impact of off-farm experience on persistence and exiting part-time farming in recent years. The empirical findings support the policy of promoting off-farm employment to improve occupational specialization.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the wage difference between overeducated and adequately educated workers in a sample of semi-skilled and low-skill occupations in Iran’s labor market. The objective is to see if overeducated employees in these occupations enjoy higher wages in comparison to their adequately educated co-workers.

The authors use the propensity score matching (PSM) model to estimate the wage difference between overeducated and adequately educated workers in a sample of semi-skilled and low-skill occupations in Iran’s labor market. The PSM method allows the authors to prevent selection bias by comparing each group of overeducated workers with a matched group of adequately educated workers with similar socio-economic characteristics.

The results show that in Iran’s labor market, the overeducated workers enjoy a wage premium in the range of 10-25 percent for their excess education when they have to work in semi- or low-skill occupations. While this relative advantage has gradually declined for private sector employees over the period 2001-2013, it has remained stable for public sector jobs. The result is attributable to the fact that salary and benefits for public sector employees are directly linked to education attainment and their work experience. The findings show that the relative wage advantage of overeducation is larger for the younger employees with ten or fewer years of experience who have more education than older workers. Overall these findings offer an explanation for the strong desire of Iranian youth for university education. If a university graduate finds a job that matches her/his specialization she/he will enjoy a higher salary than a high school graduate. If she/he has to accept a semi-skilled or low-skill job for which she/he is overeducated, she/he still enjoys a wage premium over her/his co-workers who are not overeducated.

The analysis makes three unique contributions: first, the authors use a unique and detailed micro-data for an economy (Iran) in which the public sector dominates the private sector. The authors investigate the hypothesis for private and public sectors separately. Second, the authors divide the sample of workers into market newcomers and experienced workers. The authors analyze the impact of overeducations on each group separately. Third, the authors use the treatment effect of being overeducated on the individual’s monthly wage by the PSM. The advantage of the PSM method is that it eliminates the selection bias in the wage effect of overeducation, whereas the traditional regression-based techniques may result in this type of bias.