Labor, Markets, and Educational Restructuring

Using a theoretical framework developed by Professor Akira Arimoto to describe recent changes in the Japanese system of higher education, Robert Zemsky discusses what happens when higher education becomes the norm in a society and when this massification of a higher education system gives way to post-massification. Zemsky demonstrates how, in the current era of post-massification, American higher education is a system under duress, at a time when the economy, shifting demographics, and political lassitude have forced a restructuring of the enterprise. He examines trends such as the price-income squeeze, where the economic returns to college have fallen while the cost has risen; the bifurcation of institutions into outlets and medallions; the reduced demand for young workers; and the dynamics of local labor and education markets. Zemsky concludes that, once the market for college graduates becomes saturated in a locality, the boundary between massification and post-massification is crossed, leading to a restratification of both educational attainment and economic advantage.