Further analyses of the labor market for college graduates

Monthly Labor Review, Feb, 1995 by Daniel E. Hecker

THE DATA SHOW THAT, on average, a college degree will continue to provide significant returns to graduates. As has been the case for a number of years, however, simply obtaining a college degree guarantees neither high earnings nor employment in a college-level job. Advanced degree holders and graduates in some fields have a greater probability of high earnings and a college-level job. Furthermore, the data also show very wide earnings ranges for college graduates by field in which the degree was earned and by occupation.

Information on the characteristics of graduates who hold college-level jobs and on graduates who hold noncollege-level jobs is incomplete. Further research is needed on outcomes beyond 1 year after graduation and on how academic performance, the quality of the college attended, and other factors affect outcomes. Information also is needed on characteristics, such as informally acquired skills, innate talents, and job search skills, that also may have a significant effect on outcomes, but that are difficult to measure. Such information may help explain why some graduates end up in noncollege-level jobs with low earnings. Currently, we do not know how many college graduates take noncollege-level jobs because of labor market supply-and-demand conditions, how many do so because their individual educational backgrounds limit their options, and how many do so through deliberate choice.

Footnotes

(1) Daniel E. Hecker, "Reconciling conflicting data on jobs for college graduates," Monthly Laborer Review, July 1992, pp. 3-12. (2) Ibid. (3) See Income Gains and Losses Tied to Education and Gender, Summary 94-5 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, July 1994). (4) For more details, see the following two articles in Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Summer 1994: Thomas A. Amirault, "Job Market Profile of College Graduates in 1992: A Focus on Earnings and Jobs," pp. 20-28; and Kristina J. Shelley, "More Job Openings--Even More New Entrants: The Outlook for College Graduates, 1992-2005," pp. 4-9. The latter article is an update of "The future of jobs for college graduates," Monthly Labor Review, July 1992, pp. 13-21, by the same author. (5) Prior to 1992, the cps data on education level were based on respondents' answers to a question on years of school, rather than highest level of education, completed. (6) Gary Steinberg, "The Class of '90: One Year After Graduation," Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Summer 1994, pp. 10-19. (7) Shelley, "More Job Openings," pp. 8-9.

Daniel E. Hecker is an economist in the Office of Employment Projections, Bureau of Labor Statistics.