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Differences in Wage Growth by Education Level: Do Less-Educated Workers Gain Less from Work Experience?

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  • Connolly, Helen

    (Luxembourg Income Study)

  • Gottschalk, Peter T.

    (Boston College)

Abstract

This paper revisits the old question of whether wage growth differs by education level. Do more educated workers invest more than less educated workers in firm specific, sector specific or general human capital? Do they gain more from improved job match? The paper makes both a methodological and a substantive contribution by offering an alternative strategy for separately identifying returns to general experience, sector specific experience, firm tenure, and job match. Our empirical results, based on the Survey of Income and Program Participation, show that overall wage growth is higher for more-educated workers. This reflects higher returns to general experience for college graduates and higher returns to sector experience for high school graduates. Improvements in job match grow monotonically with education.

Suggested Citation

  • Connolly, Helen & Gottschalk, Peter T., 2006. "Differences in Wage Growth by Education Level: Do Less-Educated Workers Gain Less from Work Experience?," IZA Discussion Papers 2331, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2331
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    2. Blundell, Richard & Francesconi, Marco & van der Klaauw, Wilbert, 2011. "Anatomy of Welfare Reform Evaluation: Announcement and Implementation Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 6050, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Michele Bernasconi & Paola Profeta, 2007. "Redistribution or Education? The Political Economy of the Social Race," CESifo Working Paper Series 1934, CESifo.
    4. Andini, Corrado, 2009. "How Fast Do Wages Adjust to Human-Capital Productivity? Dynamic Panel-Data Evidence from Belgium, Denmark and Finland," IZA Discussion Papers 4583, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Raitano Michele & Vona Francesco, 2018. "From the Cradle to the Grave: The Influence of Family Background on the Career Path of Italian Men," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 80(6), pages 1062-1088, December.
    6. Bergin, Adele, 2009. "Job Mobility in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 40(1), pages 15-47.
    7. Kenneth L. Sørensen & Rune Vejlin, 2014. "Return To Experience And Initial Wage Level: Do Low Wage Workers Catch Up?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 984-1006, September.
    8. Vilalta-Bufi, Montserrat, 2010. "On the industry experience premium and labor mobility," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 547-555, June.
    9. Bernasconi, Michele & Profeta, Paola, 2012. "Public education and redistribution when talents are mismatched," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 84-96.
    10. Değer Eryar & Hasan Tekgüç, 2014. "Gender Effect in Explaining Mobility Patterns in the Labor Market: A Case Study of Turkey," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 52(4), pages 322-350, December.
    11. Jennifer Brown & David A. Matsa, 2016. "Boarding a Sinking Ship? An Investigation of Job Applications to Distressed Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(2), pages 507-550, April.
    12. Mazzutti, Caio Cícero Toledo Piza da Costa, 2016. "Three essays on the causal impacts of child labour laws in Brazil," Economics PhD Theses 0616, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    13. Adsera, Alicia & Menendez, Alicia, 2009. "Fertility Changes in Latin America in the Context of Economic Uncertainty," IZA Discussion Papers 4019, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Eryar, Değer & Tekgüç, Hasan, 2013. "Gender effect in explaining the mobility patterns in the labor market: a Case study from Turkey," MPRA Paper 46006, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Kitty Stewart, 2011. "Employment trajectories and later employment outcomes for mothers in the British Household Panel Survey: An analysis by skill level," CASE Papers case144, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    16. Stewart, Kitty, 2011. "Employment trajectories and later employment outcomes for mothers in the British Household Panel Survey: an analysis by skill level," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 41396, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Connolly, Helen & Gottschalk, Peter T., 2004. "Do Earnings Subsidies Affect Job Choice?," IZA Discussion Papers 1322, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Zwick, Thomas, 2009. "Why Pay Seniority Wages?," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-005, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    19. Titan Alon, 2018. "Earning More by Doing Less: Human Capital Specialization and the College Wage Premium," 2018 Meeting Papers 497, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    20. Rosario Aldunate, 2019. "Returns to Work Experience in Chile," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 855, Central Bank of Chile.
    21. Irene Kriesi & Fabian Sander, 2024. "Academic or vocational education? A comparison of the long-term wage development of academic and vocational tertiary degree holders," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 58(1), pages 1-28, December.
    22. Uta Schönberg, 2007. "Wage Growth Due to Human Capital Accumulation and Job Search: A Comparison between the United States and Germany," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 60(4), pages 562-586, July.
    23. Ashley Pullman & Britta Gauly & Clemens M. Lechner, 2021. "Short-term earnings mobility in the Canadian and German context: the role of cognitive skills," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 55(1), pages 1-19, December.

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    JEL classification:

    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General

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