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Acta Sociologica
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Fields of Study, Acquired Skills and the Wage Benefit from a Matching Job

Herman G. van de Werfhorst

Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Amsterdam, Spinhuis, Oudezijds Achterhurgwal 185, NL-1012 DK Amsterdam, The Netherlands

This paper analyses the effects of individual investments in four field-specific educational resources on wages in The Netherlands. Based on a survey on the Dutch population, scales are developed that measure the amount of cultural, economic, communicative and technical resources that fields of study supply to students. It was hypothesized, first, that having invested in any of these four types of resources should enhance entry possibilities into jobs that require related skills and knowledge. Secondly, economic resources are expected to affect wages positively. Thirdly, people whose educational resources match the type of job held are presumed to have a wage benefit from this match. Empirical analyses on two Dutch datasets (n = 6,373) generally support the hypotheses, in that matches increased wages in three out of four branches: economic, communicative and technical types of jobs. People who invested in cultural field-specific resources did not have a wage benefit in corresponding types of work, which may be explained by the generic character of the skills obtained.

Acta Sociologica, Vol. 45, No. 4, 286-303 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/000169930204500403
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