The effect of geographical mobility, college quality and career interruptions on the returns to education
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
The research project consists of 5 studies all based on NEPS data. The topics covered by our studies all relate to interruptions in the educational or labour market careers for different reasons, such as military service, parental leaves, catching up of upper secondary degrees in the form of adult education or employment parallel to studying a tertiary educational institution (college/university). By estimating the returns to mobility upon graduation from tertiary education, we also investigated the effects of "geographical breaks". In sum, we find that breaks in the educational career such as military service, parental leave or obtaining a higher education entrance qualification later in life are potentially associated with negative labour market outcomes. On the other hand, we find no negative effects of combining studies and employment. Geographical mobility after graduating from a higher/tertiary educational institution shows positive wage effects. Details on each study are presented below. In the first paper, we focus on the long-term effects of being geographically mobilie after graduation from tertiary education using the NEPS adult dataset (SC6). Geographical mobility when entering the labour market is very relevant in Germany because most persons move only at this point of their careers. Using the presence of a college and the number of students in the municipality of residence at the end of secondary school as instruments for geographical mobility, we find that geographical mobility between graduation from higher/tertiary education and the first job yields a significantly higher wage in the long run. In a second paper, we investigate whether student employment is detrimental to academic performance using the NEPS student data (SC5). For students who applied for public financial support (BAföG), we use the amount of support obtained as a source of exogenous variation in student employment. We find that student employment does not affect academic achievement for students who work because they receive less financial support. Moreover, descriptive results indicate that taking up a student job as a student assistant at university (about 25% of student jobs) as well as being self-employed is related to higher academic achievement. A third paper is dedicated to selection into parental leaves of more than three years. The changes in the job protection legislation between 1986-1992 have modified the incentives for mothers to return to the labour market. We test the hypothesis is that after 1992, the negative selection into long career interruptions may have increased as women with stronger labour market attachment avoid taking long leaves. In the fourth paper, we use near-random variation in the probability of being drafted into the German military, once we control for the military’s medical exam results (exceptionally available through the NEPS adult data), education and age. We find almost no statistically significant effects of a 6 to 9 month career interruption through military service on later outcomes, with the exception of hourly wage, which shows a negative point estimate of -15 percent. In the fifth paper, we investigate the returns to catching up on upper secondary education after entering the labour market by way of adult education Zweiter Bildungsweg using the NEPS adult data (SC6). The results suggest that graduating from upper secondary education up to the age 25 is associated with good chances to obtain similar long-term labour market returns as "regular" high school graduates. Graduation from upper secondary education after the age 25 is, however, not associated with a higher wage than a medium-track school degree.
Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)
- (2014). Chancengleichheit durch den Zweiten Bildungsweg? - Langfristige Arbeitsmarkterträge später Hochschulreife, Diskussionspapier Nr. 540, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Leibniz Universität Hannover
Sterrenberg Margret K.
- (2015). Student Employment: Advantage or Handicap for Academic Achievement?. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 15-085
Sprietsma Maresa
- (2016). Does it Pay to Move? Returns to Geographical Mobility to the First Job for German Graduates. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 016-060
Maier Michael and Maresa Sprietsma
