Graduate-Earnings

Alberta Post-secondary Graduate Earnings by Field of Study

Domain Knowledge

In our modern society education plays an increasing role in the labor markets. Indeed, there are quite a few studies across different countries and time periods confirmed that individuals with better education on average have higher income with a more prestigious occupation and experience less unemployment than their less-educated counterparts. [1-4] As for our study of interest, we focus on post-secondary graduate earnings, particularly in Alberta Canada. Deciding what to study is probably one of the most important but also difficult choices to make for a postsecondary student. There are two main factors involved for such a choice, job satisfaction and earnings. Individual’s interest certainly plays a big role in the choice of study field.5 However, the expected earnings after graduation is also a predominant consideration in most student’s mind.6 As such, in our study we want to provide best advice to students by looking at multiple factors associated with earnings, like levels of credential, field of study, and career growth.

There are several official channels we can go to in terms of graduate statistics, including but not limited to Alberta alis, LABOUR MARKET INFORMATION COUNCIL, Statistic Canada. [7-9] Among them, I find the reference from Statistic Canada most inspiring as to what questions we can ask, and how we answer the inquires. First, the data from this channel is trustworthy. We can have an overview of earning distribution across different fields of study. Congruently, the data from this reference are drawn from the 2011 National Household Survey, which lies within the time period of our study, between 2006 to 2015, making the reference even more relevant. Second, this reference provides a new insight as to how we look at the data. As mentioned in the article, much of the existing literature only cares about earnings information by broad field of study. Such a general grouping is probably more beneficial to policymakers and education planner, but not so much to a student. On the contrary, this reference investigates earnings by detailed fields, which facilitates student to make a better decision and will be exploited in our study as well. In addition, results in this reference are a high-level guide for us. In our proposal, we made a list of questions to be answered. Some may be beyond the scope of our focus; some may be impractical due to the limitations of the data source; some may be merely unjustified. To some extent, this reference can help shape our analysis in a better way, because they not only present results and come to a solid conclusion, but also went through all the pitfalls and limitations of the study.

Reference for domain knowledge:

1. David Card, Handbook of Labor Economics, Volume 3: “The causal effect of education on earnings” (Elsevier Science B.V.,1999).
2. Harry A. Patrinos and George Psachropoulos, “Strong link between education and earnings.” World Bank Blogs, December 07, 2018, https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/strong-link-between-education-and-earnings.
3. Jarob Mincer, Education, Income, and Human Behavior, Volume 0-07-010068-3, “Education, experience, and the distribution earnings” (NBER, 1975).
4. The Learning Agency, “Education and Income: how learning leads to better salaries” The Learning Agency, August 4 2020, https://www.the-learning-agency.com/insights/education-and-income-how-learning-leads-to-better-salaries/.
5. Arcidiacono, P, “Ability sorting and the returns to college major.” Journal of Econometrics 121(1-2) (2004): 343–375. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030440760300263X.
6. Gunderson, M., and H. Krashinsky, “Do Education Decisions Respond to Returns by Field of Study?” Canadian Labour Market and Skills Researcher Network. Working Paper no. 47 (2009). http://www.clsrn.econ.ubc.ca/workingpapers/CLSRN%20Working%20Paper%20no.%2047%20-%20Gunderson%20and%20Krashinsky.pdf.
7. Alberta alis, “Earnings by post-secondary field of study”, Alberta alis, accessed January 23 2022, https://alis.alberta.ca/occinfo/earnings-by-post-secondary-field-of-study/.
8. LMIC, “Post-Secondary Graduate Earnings”, accessed January 23, 2022, https://lmic-cimt.ca/how-much-do-they-make/post-secondary-graduate-earnings/.
9. Marc Frenette and Kristyn Frank, “Earnings of Postsecondary Graduates by Detailed Field of Study”, Statistic Canada, Economic Insights (March 11, 2016). https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2016056-eng.htm.