Gendered Returns to Community College Access

• In Event: Policy Levers for Community College Mobility: New Evidence on Access, Transfer, and Equity

Abstract

Community college degrees tend to yield higher earnings returns for women than men, but the mechanisms remain underexplored. We show that these gender gaps are partially explained by differences in counterfactual labor market opportunities when community college access is limited. In particular, the types of jobs available to men and women without post-secondary credentials differ systematically in their task content and earnings potential. Using administrative data on Texas public high school graduates, we estimate how graduating from a high school located in a community college desert is associated with young adults’ labor market outcomes, and how these relationships vary by gender and race-ethnicity. Exploiting within-commuting-zone variation, we compare students who attend high schools in "community college deserts" (at least 30 minutes from a public two-year college) to those with nearby access, conditional on distance to 4-year universities and a rich set of student demographics. We examine differences in immediate post-graduation transitions; whether individuals are employed, enrolled in college, both, or neither; and subsequent differences in industry sorting and earnings trajectories up to 13 years after high school graduation (roughly at age 30). We find that students in community college deserts are less likely to enroll in college, driven by a decrease in community college enrollment. Despite reduced college enrollment, males who graduate high school in a community college desert have higher earnings (both conditional and unconditional on any employment) 5-13 years after high school graduation relative to comparable peers in the same commuting-zone with greater geographic access to community college. However, in contrast to males, females experience persistent earnings declines. This asymmetry arises because males without community college access sort into relatively high-paying manual jobs such as jobs in oil/gas and agriculture, whereas females sort into lower-paying occupations. Our results highlight the role of community colleges in reducing gender gaps in economic opportunity.

Authors

• Riley Kaitlin Acton, Bowdoin College
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Kalena E Cortes, Texas A&M University
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Emileigh Harrison, The University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Lois Miller, University of South Carolina
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Camila Morales, University of Texas, Dallas
  Non-Presenting Co-Author