Returns to education by academic discipline in the Greek labour market

This paper examines the wage returns to different academic disciplines in the Greek labour market. Exploring wage responsiveness across the various degree subjects in the case of Greece is interesting, as it is characterised by high levels of graduate unemployment, which vary considerably by field of study, and relatively low levels of wage flexibility. Using micro-data from the most recently available waves (2000-2004) of the Greek Labour Force Survey (LFS), the returns to academic disciplines are estimated for the whole sample of graduates as well as by gender and public/private sector. Quantile regressions indicate that the OLS estimates are relatively robust to potential selectivity biases. The empirical results show considerable variation in wage premiums across the fields of study, with low returns for those that have a marginal role to play in an economy with a rising services/shrinking public sector. It is concluded that the Greek higher education system requires educational reforms that consider the future prospects of the different academic disciplines