TY - JOUR
T1 - The value of educational degrees in turbulent economic times
T2 - Evidence from the Youth Development Study
AU - Vuolo, Mike
AU - Mortimer, Jeylan T.
AU - Staff, Jeremy
N1 - Funding Information:
The Youth Development Study was supported by grants, “Work Experience and Mental Health: A Panel Study of Youth,” from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development ( HD44138 ) and the National Institute of Mental Health ( MH42843 ). Jeremy Staff is grateful for the support he received during the writing of this manuscript from a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award in Population Research from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development ( HD054467 ). The funding sources had no role in the research conducted in this article. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the sponsors. The authors would like to thank Shannon Fleishman and Chen-Yu Wu for research assistance.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2016/5/1
Y1 - 2016/5/1
N2 - Rising costs of higher education have prompted debate about the value of college degrees. Using mixed effects panel models of data from the Youth Development Study (ages 31-37), we compare occupational outcomes (i.e., weekly hours worked, earnings, employment status, career attainment, and job security) between educational attainment categories within year, and within categories across years, from 2005 to 2011, capturing the period before, during, and in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Our findings demonstrate the long-term value of post-secondary degrees. Bachelor's and Associate's degree recipients, while experiencing setbacks at the height of recession, were significantly better off than those with some or no college attendance. Vocational-Technical degree holders followed a unique trajectory: pre-recession, they are mostly on par with Associate's and Bachelor's recipients, but they are hit particularly hard by the recession and then rebound somewhat afterwards. Our findings highlight the perils of starting but not finishing post-secondary educational programs.
AB - Rising costs of higher education have prompted debate about the value of college degrees. Using mixed effects panel models of data from the Youth Development Study (ages 31-37), we compare occupational outcomes (i.e., weekly hours worked, earnings, employment status, career attainment, and job security) between educational attainment categories within year, and within categories across years, from 2005 to 2011, capturing the period before, during, and in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Our findings demonstrate the long-term value of post-secondary degrees. Bachelor's and Associate's degree recipients, while experiencing setbacks at the height of recession, were significantly better off than those with some or no college attendance. Vocational-Technical degree holders followed a unique trajectory: pre-recession, they are mostly on par with Associate's and Bachelor's recipients, but they are hit particularly hard by the recession and then rebound somewhat afterwards. Our findings highlight the perils of starting but not finishing post-secondary educational programs.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.12.014
DO - 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.12.014
M3 - Article
C2 - 26973042
AN - SCOPUS:84960099533
SN - 0049-089X
VL - 57
SP - 233
EP - 252
JO - Social Science Research
JF - Social Science Research
ER -