Panel Paper: An Experimental Study of the Value of Postsecondary Credentials in the Labor Market

Saturday, November 8, 2014 : 10:55 AM
Dona Ana (Convention Center)

*Names in bold indicate Presenter

David Deming1,2, Claudia Goldin1,2, Lawrence Katz1,2 and Noam Yuchtman2,3, (1)Harvard University, (2)The National Bureau of Economic Research, (3)University of California, Berkeley
Despite growing demand, the supply of highly skilled college graduates in the U.S. has not kept pace. In contrast to sluggish growth in the public sector, enrollment in for-profit institutions has grown rapidly over the last fifteen years. Yet little is known about the labor market return to a for-profit education. Do employers value for-profit credentials, and do they value credentials from some institutions more than others? We address these questions using a large-scale resume audit field experiment. We construct fictitious resumes, randomly vary the institution from which the job applicant received a degree or certificate, and apply to job vacancies that are posted on a large, national job search website. While our primary research question concerns employers' valuations of a for-profit versus public credential, we also test the impact of having any credential for job vacancies that do not require it. Additionally, our planned sample size allows us to examine heterogeneity by occupation, degree, and labor market. The study went into the field on Monday, March 31st and will conclude by the end of June 2014.