Wilson, Robert A. (1983) The declining return to professional status in the British economy (with special references to scientists and engineers). PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the question of how the return to
investment in human capital, as represented by the attainment of professional
status, has changed over time in Great Britain. In addition it is
concerned with differences between different professional groups.
Because of data limitations a very simple methodological approach is
adopted building upon work by previous researchers. This uses age earnings
profiles at a point in time as a guide to the future earnings associated
with different career profiles. The main developments to the conventional
methodology are concerned with adjustments to' these profiles to reflect
differences in the characteristics of different professions.
Previous work in this area for Great Britain has been limited in both
the time period covered and the types of qualification and profession
considered. The major contribution of the present study is to provide
a perspective on how rates of return have altered over time and to compare
differences between different professions.
The main finding is that there has been a dramatic secular decline
in rates of return from around 176 per cent in 1955 to 76 per cent by
1975. This has been common to most professions. The explanation for this
phenomenon is argued to be in broad changes in the balance of supply and
demand for highly qualified persons. Another important finding is that
social as opposed to private rates of return show a similar pattern over
time although there are some marked differences in rankings between
different professions for the two measures of return.
It is argued that a regular monitoring of rates of return to entering
different professions would provide a valuable guide to important policy
decisions regarding the pay of people employed in the public sector and
on the identification of restrictive practices in professional labour
markets.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Labor market, Human capital, Rate of return
Official Date:	October 1983
Dates:	Date Event October 1983 Created
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Economics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Language:	eng

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