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Efficient Supply Of Human Capital: Role Of College Major

Author

Listed:
  • SUNGJIN CHO

    (Department of Economics, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea)

  • JIHYE KAM

    (Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, University of Wisconsin, 1000 Bascom Mall, Madison, WI 53706, USA)

  • SOOHYUNG LEE

    (Department of Economics Sogang University, 35 Baekbeom-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, 04207, Republic of Korea4IZA, Schaumburg-Lippe-Strasse 5-9, 53113 Bonn, Germany5Maryland Population Research Center, University of Maryland, 2105 Morrill Hall, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

Abstract

This study examines the extent to which changing the composition of college majors among working-age population may affect the supply of human capital or effective labor supply. We use the South Korean setting, in which the population is rapidly aging, but where, despite their high educational attainment, women and young adults are still weakly attached to the labor market. We find that engineering majors have an advantage in various outcomes such as likelihood of being in the labor force, being employed, obtaining long-term position, and earnings, while Humanities and Arts/Athletics majors show the worst outcomes. We then conduct a back-of-the-envelope calculation of the impact of the recently proposed policy change to increase the share of engineering majors by 10% starting in 2017. Our calculation suggests that the policy change may have a positive but small impact on labor market outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Sungjin Cho & Jihye Kam & Soohyung Lee, 2018. "Efficient Supply Of Human Capital: Role Of College Major," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 63(05), pages 1319-1343, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:serxxx:v:63:y:2018:i:05:n:s0217590817500047
    DOI: 10.1142/S0217590817500047
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    Cited by:

    1. Niccolo Durazzi, 2023. "Engineering the expansion of higher education: High skills, advanced manufacturing, and the knowledge economy," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 121-141, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economics of education; college major; returns to schooling; gender gap; human capital; aging;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • J4 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets

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