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College Quality, Earnings, and Job Satisfaction: Evidence from Recent College Graduates

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Abstract

This study investigates the relationship among college quality, earnings, and job satisfaction among a recent cohort of college graduates. Our results suggest that, controlling for earnings, college quality is negatively related to job satisfaction, especially to those aspects of the job that are associated with monetary rewards. Further analysis indicates that there is no significant difference between the male and female groups; however, the negative relationship between satisfaction with monetary rewards and college quality is mainly driven by the non-white group. These findings do not support the view that graduating from elite schools will necessarily lead to greater job satisfaction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, The Pennsylvania State University, 122A Willard Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Xiangmin Liu

  2. Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, USA

    Scott Thomas

  3. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Liang Zhang

Authors
  1. Xiangmin Liu
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  2. Scott Thomas
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  3. Liang Zhang
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Correspondence to Xiangmin Liu.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 8 Linear regression estimation for the effects of educational experience and earnings on satisfaction with monetary and non-monetary rewards, by gender
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Table 9 Linear regression estimation for the effects of educational experience and earnings on satisfaction with monetary and non-monetary rewards, by race
Full size table

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Liu, X., Thomas, S. & Zhang, L. College Quality, Earnings, and Job Satisfaction: Evidence from Recent College Graduates. J Labor Res 31, 183–201 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12122-010-9086-1

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