Education and Earnings Growth. Evidence from 11 European Countries

We use cohort data from 11 European countries to study whether experience–earnings profiles differ by educational attainment. We find evidence that employees with tertiary education have steeper experience–earnings profiles than employees with upper secondary or lower education. Hence, education provides not only an initial labor market advantage but also a permanent advantage that increases with time in the labor market. We also find that differences in earnings growth by education are higher in countries which have experienced faster labor productivity growth.