RETURNS TO FIELD OF STUDY IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: A GENDER PERSPECTIVE AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

This study seeks to examine the impact that the field of study of workers in Trinidad and Tobago is likely to have on their earning capacity. Using individual persons’ data from the Continuous Sample Survey of the Population (CSSP), for the period 1991-2015, the returns of private and public sector workers were estimated by estimating a Mincerian Earnings function using the Quantile Regression technique. This study finds that men employed in low- and middle-income jobs for most fields (arts, humanities, science, engineering and architecture, social science, business, law, and mathematics and computer science and law enforcement) all suffered a wage decline in 2004-2015. This may be due to changes in the skill set where there was much growth in the industry demand for highly-skilled and unskilled men. This implies that middle income jobs which hire semi-skilled men, may be possibly becoming more polarized during the 2009-2015 recession. Men employed in high income jobs, earn better wages in more fields, particularly STEM areas. The earnings of women employed in low, middle- and high-income jobs for most fields, especially in the areas of STEM all improved in 2004-2015. This is likely to be the result of the rising participation of women in STEM fields, and a greater integration of STEM competencies in STEM and Non-STEM occupations.