Influence of university prestige on graduate wage and job satisfaction: the case of South Korea

ABSTRACT

Obtaining a tertiary degree no longer guarantees entry to the best occupational positions in today’s labour market. Success is no longer about ‘more’ education, but about ‘better’ education for university graduates. This study aims to understand whether university prestige in Korea accounts for occupational outcomes in both monetary and non-monetary aspects, such as salaries and job satisfaction. The study particularly focuses on the way different levels of university prestige are affected by gender. The fourth wave data from the Korean Education and Employment Panel were used, providing information from the results of a panel survey of university graduates in terms of their social and academic background and job employment status. Results show that university prestige continues to matters in occupational outcomes in particular, for wage, but it is not significant for job satisfaction. The effect is more significant among male graduates than among female graduates.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• job satisfaction
• job status
• South Korea
• university prestige
• wage

Acknowledgements

The author Soo Jeung Lee’s fellowship is supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The author Soo Jeung Lee’s fellowship is supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.