IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/edecon/v33y2025i6p904-928.html

Heterogeneity in STEM coursework within and across college majors: do college graduates’ earnings depend on major, STEM credits, or both?

Author

Listed:
  • Audrey Light
  • Sydney Schreiner Wertz

Abstract

In contrast to studies that identify the expected earnings premium associated with any STEM degree or with specific college majors, we account for workers’ majors and the percent of total college credits completed in STEM courses (STEM intensity). We find that STEM intensity is an important determinant of log-earnings for many STEM and non-STEM majors, and that estimated earnings gaps between pairs of majors can change dramatically when STEM intensity is accounted for. In light of this evidence, we believe policy initiatives focused on drawing students into STEM should emphasize the potential value of STEM coursework for non-STEM majors.

Suggested Citation

  • Audrey Light & Sydney Schreiner Wertz, 2025. "Heterogeneity in STEM coursework within and across college majors: do college graduates’ earnings depend on major, STEM credits, or both?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(6), pages 904-928, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:33:y:2025:i:6:p:904-928
    DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2024.2444939
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09645292.2024.2444939
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09645292.2024.2444939?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:33:y:2025:i:6:p:904-928. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CEDE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.