Events

While nearly 40% of entrants into bachelor’s degree (BA)-granting colleges in the United States do not earn BAs within six years—yielding 2 million people considered “dropouts” each year—limited research examines the labor market returns to unfinished BAs. To what extent, and for whom, might earning some BA college yield labor market advantages? Drawing on theories of signaling and credentialism, we propose that unfinished BAs serve as "ambiguous credentials" in the labor market, where their value varies substantially based on clearer markers of potential worker productivity such as sub-baccalaureate degree attainment, college selectivity, and both social and cultural capital. We test our hypothesis using restricted-access data drawn from ELS:2002, investigating the payoffs to some BA college in early career wages and occupational prestige. We find that those with some BA college do not experience a wage advantage over those with no BA college during the early career period, but they do achieve an advantage in occupational prestige. In addition, the prestige advantage varies by prior attendance at associate’s degree (AA)-granting colleges and AA attainment, net of entry into BA colleges, and is concentrated among those who attend selective or very selective colleges. Further analyses reveal more granular explanatory mechanisms, including the number of health-related college credits received, attendance at a mobility-enhancing college (net of selectivity), and the maintenance of social ties to those with above-average social class origins. We conclude that the results provide support for the ambiguous credentials hypothesis and discuss the implications for labor market inequality.

The Sociology Seminar Series for Trinity Term is convened by Kasimir Dederichs, Said Hassan and Anica Waldendorf..  For more information about this or any of the seminars in the series, please contact sociology.secretary@nuffield.ox.ac.uk.