Does college level the playing field? Socioeconomic gaps in the earnings of similar graduates: evidence from South Korea
Publication Date
2022Journal Title
Higher Education
ISSN
0018-1560
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume
83
Issue
6
Pages
1335-1354
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Lee, S., & Vignoles, A. (2022). Does college level the playing field? Socioeconomic gaps in the earnings of similar graduates: evidence from South Korea. Higher Education, 83 (6), 1335-1354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00745-0
Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The socioeconomic gap in participation at university is an enduring policy issue in South Korea, as in many other countries. However, less attention has been paid to the socioeconomic gap in the outcomes from tertiary education. This paper addresses this gap in the literature, using the Korean Education and Employment Panel (KEEP) data to investigate the extent to which the wages of Korean graduates who attended similar higher education institutions vary by socioeconomic background. The results show that a degree appears to largely level the playing field, in terms of earnings, between male graduates from poor and rich backgrounds. For females, by contrast, family background is still a strong predictor of earnings, even after allowing for institution attended and discipline of degree. Further, the wage premium for 2-year and 4-year college degrees also varies by family background. Four-year college degrees, contrary to popular belief, do not always attract a higher wage premium than 2-year college degrees, particularly for men from poorer family backgrounds.</jats:p>
Keywords
Article, Socioeconomic gaps, Graduate earnings, Wage premium, College type
Identifiers
s10734-021-00745-0, 745
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00745-0
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/337166
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Statistics
Total file downloads (since January 2020). For more information on metrics see the
IRUS guide.
Recommended or similar items
The current recommendation prototype on the Apollo Repository will be turned off on 03 February 2023. Although the pilot has been fruitful for both parties, the service provider IKVA is focusing on horizon scanning products and so the recommender service can no longer be supported. We recognise the importance of recommender services in supporting research discovery and are evaluating offerings from other service providers. If you would like to offer feedback on this decision please contact us on: support@repository.cam.ac.uk