Wages and Full-time Employment Rates of Young High School Graduates and Bachelor’s Degree Holders, 1997 to 2012

This study examines which factors underlie the narrowing of wage differences seen between young bachelor’s degree holders and high school graduates from the 2000-to-2002 period to the 2010-to-2012 period and the widening of differences in full-time paid employment rates between these two groups.

Four types of factors are considered: those associated with changes in labour supply, labour demand, institutions and employer–employee contracts, and general economic conditions.

Changes in the population of bachelor’s degree holders relative to the population of high school graduates are used to capture changes in relative labour supply.