Earning an associate degree has varying value for workers based on demographics, researchers find

New research from Virginia Commonwealth University confirms the economic value of completing an associate degree but also unmasks the disparate labor market outcomes for workers of diverse races/ethnicities, sexes and nationalities.

Katybeth Lee, Ph.D., of the VCU School of Business and Hayley Cleary, Ph.D., of the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs explored whether the economic benefits of higher education differ between individuals whose highest level of attainment is some college coursework but no degree compared with individuals who earned an associate degree.

In the article “Are the Tickets for Everyone? Heterogeneity of Economic Rewards for Associate’s Degree Completion,” published in The Review of Black Political Economy, the team reported that the economic returns for associate degree completion could differ based on identity.

On average, workers with an associate degree reaped more economic rewards than workers with some college education but no degree. However, in almost every category, the advantage of completing the degree was lost when the worker held at least one socially disadvantaged identity, such as race/ethnicity, sex, citizenship or nativity. That economic disadvantage was multiplied for workers who had more than one disadvantaged identity.

The authors said their findings suggest that, with an increasingly diverse workforce, more funding should be allocated to support women and non-white workers in pursuing associate degrees, particularly in high demand, high-wage fields such as nursing, information technology and management.

“Women and non-white workers have been undercompensated for many decades,” said Lee, who is executive director of Business Career Services. “By seeking ways to increase educational funding for women and non-white workers, institutions can begin to lessen the longstanding differences in economic returns for workers of disadvantaged social standings.”

College degree completion is one of the greatest avenues for social mobility and economic growth.

“Individuals from the bottom of the income distribution who gain a college degree have greater social mobility, and parents pass on their educational advantages to the next generation, impacting intergenerational social mobility,” Lee said.

Workers with some college education but no degree have unemployment and earnings closer to high school graduates than college graduates.

“This study suggests that the completion of an associate degree propels upward each population studied here, but it also brings to light how different the starting places are for each population,” said Cleary, an associate professor of criminal justice and public policy whose research interests link social science, law and policy.

“While women and non-white workers realize greater gains from completing associate degrees than their majority counterparts, the labor market continues to reward white men with much greater economic returns than any other population. Analyses that stop at the aggregate level obscure the differential experiences of the diverse workforce.”