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Returns to Postgraduate Education in Portugal: Holding on to a Higher Ground?

Author

Listed:
  • Almeida, André
  • Figueiredo, Hugo
  • Cerejeira, João
  • Portela, Miguel
  • Sá, Carla
  • Teixeira, Pedro
Abstract
In this paper we use a large official employer-employee dataset, which includes almost the whole universe of business firms, to document and decompose the rising graduates postgraduates’ wage differentials in Portugal. Using a non-parametric matching exercise, we pay particular attention to differences in the assignment of these two groups of workers across occupations and tasks. This allows us to disentangle different sources of postgraduates’ relative earnings and look at the creation of postgraduate jobs . We further look, however, at displacement and deskilling effects due to relative demand inertia as possible sources of such evolution of the relative earnings. Our results show that both displacement and deskilling effects, particularly of graduates with only a first-degree, appear to be at least as important as direct productivity effects in explaining postgraduates premiums. We also conclude that the relative importance of the former has been steadily increasing overtime and that, on the contrary, the net creation of high-paying, postgraduate-only jobs has been relatively modest. This suggests that postgraduate degrees have largely worked as a way of holding on to a higher ground in the labour market.

Suggested Citation

  • Almeida, André & Figueiredo, Hugo & Cerejeira, João & Portela, Miguel & Sá, Carla & Teixeira, Pedro, 2017. "Returns to Postgraduate Education in Portugal: Holding on to a Higher Ground?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 44, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:44
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Francis Green & Golo Henseke, 2021. "Europe’s evolving graduate labour markets: supply, demand, underemployment and pay," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 55(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Fernando Alexandre & Sara Cruz & Miguel Portela, 2020. "Financial distress and the role of management in micro and small-sized firms," NIPE Working Papers 06/2020, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    3. Paulo Soares Esteves & Miguel Portela & António Rua, 2022. "Does Domestic Demand Matter for Firms’ Exports?," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 311-332, April.
    4. Derick R. C. Almeida & João A. S. Andrade & Adelaide Duarte & Marta Simões, 2022. "Human Capital Disparities and Earnings Inequality in The Portuguese Private Labour Market," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 145-167, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Postgraduate; Wage Differentials; Inequality; Polarization; Skills;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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