The labour market returns to graduation : reconciling administrative and survey data estimates

Adamecz-Völgyi, Anna and Dickson, Matt and Shure, Nikki (2025) The labour market returns to graduation : reconciling administrative and survey data estimates. ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION REVIEW, 108. No.-102701. ISSN 0272-7757

Preview

Text 1-s2.0-S0272775725000810-main.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature on the earnings returns to university graduation. Recent evidence using administrative earnings data from England suggests a zero return to graduation for men and positive returns to graduation for women in annual earnings at age 26. We show that once hours worked are taken into account – typically not available in administrative tax data – returns to graduation in hourly wages are considerably smaller for women than returns in annual wages at this age. Graduate women work more hours than comparable non-graduate women; thus, not taking hours worked into account leads to overestimating returns to graduation for women by more than two-fold. This highlights the importance of using both survey and administrative data sources when estimating the returns to university graduation.

Actions (login required)

Edit Item