LABOR MARKET OUTCOMES OF RECENT U.S. COLLEGE GRADUATES IN THE STEM DISCIPLINES: IMPACTS OF COLLEGE LOCATION by Tetiana Lysenko A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of North Carolina at Charlotte in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography and Urban Regional Analysis Charlotte 2017 Approved by: ______________________________ Dr. Qingfang Wang ______________________________ Dr. Harrison Campbell ______________________________ Dr. Elizabeth Delmelle ______________________________ Dr. Wei Zhao ©2017 Tetiana Lysenko ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT TETIANA LYSENKO. Labor market outcomes of recent U.S. college graduates in the STEM disciplines: Impacts of college location. (Under the direction of DR. QINGFANG WANG) This research explores the relationship between place and the career experiences of STEM-educated recent college graduates in the U.S. over the 2000-2010 decade. Specifically, it seeks to understand how these graduates’ early career outcomes (earnings, odds of unemployment and underemployment) are contingent on the location where they received their degrees, in addition to individual and institutional level characteristics. The findings show that individual factors are the most important factors determining all three outcomes. Women and Blacks are considerably more disadvantaged (compared to male and White counterparts). Higher grades, more experience and spatial mobility are overwhelmingly positively related to higher earnings and lower probability of unemployment and underemployment. Health and engineering are the most lucrative majors in terms all three outcomes. Graduates’ outcomes worsened during recent recession, but varied significantly across the geographic areas. Higher education institutional factors, selectivity and college specialization in STEM, are strong predictors of higher earnings, but not other outcomes. Geographic factors, mainly college area’s STEM employment concentration and proximity to STEM clusters, are significant in explaining all three outcomes. This study contributes to the scholarship on higher education, labor market, and gender and racial disparity studies from a geographic and comparative perspective. It particularly provides policy implications on higher education policy with regards to STEM disciplines and policies related to racial and gender iii disparities in the labor markets. It further calls for investigation of the relationship between higher education institution and regional development, and the integration of the efforts between the two. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to express thanks to my advisor, Dr. Qingfang Wang, who supported me during all my time at UNCC. I am extremely grateful to all the advice she provided and her eagerness to help me with all my issues. Second, I want to thank my dissertation committee for all the suggestions they provided, as well their patience during this process and willingness to do this defense in the middle of summer time. I am also grateful to all the people in our department and the graduate school who helped me throughout these years at UNC Charlotte. I am thankful to my parents for letting me go so far away almost 10 years ago. All these would not be possible without their continuous encouragement and support. Lastly, to my friend, Julia, thank you for 24 years of friendship and your moral support throughout this journey. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................... 7 1. Human capital, social capital, cultural capital, and occupational attainment ...........7 2. The role of higher education institutions in labor market outcomes ......................11 3. College location, regional labor market, and college graduate occupational attainment .......................................................................................................................15 4. STEM disciplines and college graduates’ labor market experiences ......................21 CHAPTER III: DATA AND MODELING ...................................................................... 26 1. Data .........................................................................................................................26 2. Dependent Variables ...............................................................................................28 a. Unemployment ....................................................................................................28 b. Underemployment ...............................................................................................29 c. Job Earnings ........................................................................................................29 3. Independent variables .............................................................................................29 a. Individual level factors ........................................................................................29 b. Institutional level factors .....................................................................................32 c. Locational Characteristics ...................................................................................34 ii 4. Methodology ...........................................................................................................35 a. How do STEM graduates perform in the labor market over time and space? ....35 b. How are the labor market outcomes associated with individual, institutional and geographic locational characteristics? ........................................................................36 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS FROM DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSES ................................. 41 1. Gender composition by major over time ................................................................44 2. Racial composition by major over time ..................................................................45 3. Job earnings by gender and major over time ..........................................................48 4. Job earnings by race and major over time ..............................................................49 5. Unemployment rate by gender and major over time ..............................................52 6. Unemployment rate by race/ethnicity and major over time ....................................55 7. Underemployment by gender and major over time ................................................58 8. Underemployment by race/ethnicity and major over time .....................................59 9. Summary .................................................................................................................61 CHAPTER V: DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSES OF HEI CHARACTERISTICS ................ 63 CHAPTER VI: FINDINGS FROM DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSES OF GEOGRAPHIC FACTORS......................................................................................................................... 69 1. Characteristics of college locations ........................................................................69 2. Geographic distribution ..........................................................................................73 a. Job earnings .........................................................................................................74 b. Underemployment ...............................................................................................80 c. Unemployment ....................................................................................................85 iii d. Summary .............................................................................................................90 CHAPTER VII: FINDINGS FROM REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE TOTAL SAMPLE ........................................................................................................................... 91 1. Job earnings model .................................................................................................91 a. Individual level characteristics ............................................................................92 b. College characteristics.........................................................................................98 c. Location characteristics .......................................................................................99 2. Underemployment.................................................................................................101 3. Unemployment ......................................................................................................103 4. Summary ...............................................................................................................108 CHAPTER VIII: ANALYSIS BY MAJOR WITHIN STEM ........................................ 110 1. Salary ....................................................................................................................110 a. Computer science ..............................................................................................110 b. Life science .......................................................................................................111 c. Physical science.................................................................................................112