Higher education has expanded considerably in recent years. Human capital theory implies that this expansion has been the result of a growth in demand for higher level technical and managerial skills - commonly known as the technology bias thesis. Evidence of a positive coefficient for higher education relative to lower educational levels in Mincer-type wage equations and the maintenance of this differential over time are treated as supportive of the technology bias thesis. A more sociological approach might take into account increased social demand for education, which should result in increased competition between graduates for jobs. Moreover, the jobs which face the most competition from graduates are likely to be those which already have a high proportion of graduates, as graduate density itself becomes a signal of status. Using British Labour Force Survey data spanning ten years, when a measure of graduate density within occupations is incorporated in a wage equation, it appears that the higher the proportion of graduates in an occupation the lower the salary each individual receives, even controlling for education. This suggests a social rather than a material explanation of the expansion of higher education.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for Social and Economic Research in its series ISER working papers with number
2006-58.
Length: 26 Date of creation: 18 Dec 2006 Date of revision: Publication status: published Handle: RePEc:ese:iserwp:2006-58
Contact details of provider: Postal: Publications Office, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex CO4 3SQ UK Phone: 44-1206-872957 Fax: 44-1206-873151 Web page: http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/
Order Information: Postal: Publications Office, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex CO4 3SQ UK Email: Web: http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/publications/
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Paul Groves).
Related research
Keywords:
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: