Education, Occupational Class, and Unemployment in the Regions of the United Kingdom

Vani Borooah; John Mangan

doi:10.1080/09645290801977157

Education, Occupational Class, and Unemployment in the Regions of the United Kingdom

Vani Borooah
, John Mangan

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

137 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Estimating the returns to education is an important aspect of empirical economics. Usually this is achieved by estimating the additional earnings provided by an extra year of schooling. However, given the difficulty of obtaining reliable earnings data, this approach is not always easy to implement. This paper proposes an alternative measure of returns to education based on the probability of “labour market success” associated with different levels of qualification. Returns to education, so conceived, are estimated on data from the 2001 UK Census for the different regions of the UK. Two measures of “success” are used: first, the likelihood of persons in employment being in “good” jobs; second, the likelihood of persons in the labour force being in employment. The results show that, in every region of the UK, better qualifications are significantly and strongly associated with higher probabilities of labour market success.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	351-370
Journal	Education Economics
Volume	16
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/09645290801977157
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - Dec 2008

Bibliographical note

Reference text: Ashenfelter, O., Harmon, C., and Oosterbeek, H. (1999), A Review of Estimates of the Schooling/Earnings Relationship, with Tests for Publication Bias.” Labour Economics, Vol. 6, pp. 453-470.
Borooah, V.K. (2001), Logit and Probit: Ordered and Multinomial Models, Quantitative Studies in the Social Sciences, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.
Dutta, J., Sefton, J., and Weale, M. (1999), “Education and Public Policy,” Fiscal Studies, vol. 20, pp. 351-386.
Harmon, C., Oosterbeek, H. and Walker, I. (2003) “The Returns to Education – A Review of Evidence, Issues and Deficiencies in the Literature.” (with). Journal of Economic Surveys, vol. 17, pp. 155-156.
Hornbeck, D.W., and Salamon, L.M. (1991), Human Capital and America’s Future, Batlimore: The Johns Hopkins Press.
Greene, W.H., (2000), Econometric Analysis, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Mankiw, N.G. (1998), Principles of Economics, New York: Worth Publishers Inc.
Mincer, J. (1958), “Investment in Human Capital and Personal Income Distribution”, Journal of Political Economy, vol. 66, pp. 281-302.
Prais, S.J. (1995), Productivity, Education and Training, London: National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

Keywords

Education
Returns
Regions
UK

Access to Document

10.1080/09645290801977157

Education Occupation Revised VersionFinal published version, 771 KB

Cite this

@article{b7f4fb46497648e8929f96ea52004a78,

title = "Education, Occupational Class, and Unemployment in the Regions of the United Kingdom",

abstract = "Estimating the returns to education is an important aspect of empirical economics. Usually this is achieved by estimating the additional earnings provided by an extra year of schooling. However, given the difficulty of obtaining reliable earnings data, this approach is not always easy to implement. This paper proposes an alternative measure of returns to education based on the probability of “labour market success” associated with different levels of qualification. Returns to education, so conceived, are estimated on data from the 2001 UK Census for the different regions of the UK. Two measures of “success” are used: first, the likelihood of persons in employment being in “good” jobs; second, the likelihood of persons in the labour force being in employment. The results show that, in every region of the UK, better qualifications are significantly and strongly associated with higher probabilities of labour market success.",

keywords = "Education, Returns, Regions, UK",

author = "Vani Borooah and John Mangan",

note = "Reference text: Ashenfelter, O., Harmon, C., and Oosterbeek, H. (1999), A Review of Estimates of the Schooling/Earnings Relationship, with Tests for Publication Bias.” Labour Economics, Vol. 6, pp. 453-470. Borooah, V.K. (2001), Logit and Probit: Ordered and Multinomial Models, Quantitative Studies in the Social Sciences, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc. Dutta, J., Sefton, J., and Weale, M. (1999), “Education and Public Policy,” Fiscal Studies, vol. 20, pp. 351-386. Harmon, C., Oosterbeek, H. and Walker, I. (2003) “The Returns to Education – A Review of Evidence, Issues and Deficiencies in the Literature.” (with). Journal of Economic Surveys, vol. 17, pp. 155-156. Hornbeck, D.W., and Salamon, L.M. (1991), Human Capital and America{\textquoteright}s Future, Batlimore: The Johns Hopkins Press. Greene, W.H., (2000), Econometric Analysis, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Mankiw, N.G. (1998), Principles of Economics, New York: Worth Publishers Inc. Mincer, J. (1958), “Investment in Human Capital and Personal Income Distribution”, Journal of Political Economy, vol. 66, pp. 281-302. Prais, S.J. (1995), Productivity, Education and Training, London: National Institute of Economic and Social Research.",

year = "2008",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1080/09645290801977157",

language = "English",

volume = "16",

pages = "351--370",

journal = "Education Economics",

issn = "1469-5782",

publisher = "Routledge",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Education, Occupational Class, and Unemployment in the Regions of the United Kingdom

AU - Borooah, Vani

AU - Mangan, John

N1 - Reference text: Ashenfelter, O., Harmon, C., and Oosterbeek, H. (1999), A Review of Estimates of the Schooling/Earnings Relationship, with Tests for Publication Bias.” Labour Economics, Vol. 6, pp. 453-470. Borooah, V.K. (2001), Logit and Probit: Ordered and Multinomial Models, Quantitative Studies in the Social Sciences, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc. Dutta, J., Sefton, J., and Weale, M. (1999), “Education and Public Policy,” Fiscal Studies, vol. 20, pp. 351-386. Harmon, C., Oosterbeek, H. and Walker, I. (2003) “The Returns to Education – A Review of Evidence, Issues and Deficiencies in the Literature.” (with). Journal of Economic Surveys, vol. 17, pp. 155-156. Hornbeck, D.W., and Salamon, L.M. (1991), Human Capital and America’s Future, Batlimore: The Johns Hopkins Press. Greene, W.H., (2000), Econometric Analysis, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Mankiw, N.G. (1998), Principles of Economics, New York: Worth Publishers Inc. Mincer, J. (1958), “Investment in Human Capital and Personal Income Distribution”, Journal of Political Economy, vol. 66, pp. 281-302. Prais, S.J. (1995), Productivity, Education and Training, London: National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

PY - 2008/12

Y1 - 2008/12

N2 - Estimating the returns to education is an important aspect of empirical economics. Usually this is achieved by estimating the additional earnings provided by an extra year of schooling. However, given the difficulty of obtaining reliable earnings data, this approach is not always easy to implement. This paper proposes an alternative measure of returns to education based on the probability of “labour market success” associated with different levels of qualification. Returns to education, so conceived, are estimated on data from the 2001 UK Census for the different regions of the UK. Two measures of “success” are used: first, the likelihood of persons in employment being in “good” jobs; second, the likelihood of persons in the labour force being in employment. The results show that, in every region of the UK, better qualifications are significantly and strongly associated with higher probabilities of labour market success.

AB - Estimating the returns to education is an important aspect of empirical economics. Usually this is achieved by estimating the additional earnings provided by an extra year of schooling. However, given the difficulty of obtaining reliable earnings data, this approach is not always easy to implement. This paper proposes an alternative measure of returns to education based on the probability of “labour market success” associated with different levels of qualification. Returns to education, so conceived, are estimated on data from the 2001 UK Census for the different regions of the UK. Two measures of “success” are used: first, the likelihood of persons in employment being in “good” jobs; second, the likelihood of persons in the labour force being in employment. The results show that, in every region of the UK, better qualifications are significantly and strongly associated with higher probabilities of labour market success.

KW - Education

KW - Returns

KW - Regions

KW - UK

U2 - 10.1080/09645290801977157

DO - 10.1080/09645290801977157

M3 - Article

SN - 1469-5782

VL - 16

SP - 351

EP - 370

JO - Education Economics

JF - Education Economics

IS - 4

ER -

Education, Occupational Class, and Unemployment in the Regions of the United Kingdom

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this