Gatekeeping High-Paying Industries: The Role of Higher Education and Social Identities in Occupational Access

• In Event: 41021 - Student Forum Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 17: Higher Education

Abstract

What factors determine access to high-paying industries, and to what extent does higher education serve as a gateway to these careers? While often regarded as a key pathway to economic mobility, higher education does not uniformly translate into occupational access across different fields. My research examines how educational credentials—including institutional prestige, field of study, and degree level—intersect with gender, race, and immigration status to shape employment opportunities. While wage disparities have been widely studied, industry-specific hiring barriers remain understudied. Using large-scale survey data from the 2021 National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG), I systematically compare access to five major high-paying industries in the U.S., including technology, finance, consulting, law, and healthcare, assessing how different credentials are valued and whether they mitigate or reinforce social inequalities. By linking labor market selection patterns to broader discussions of social stratification, this study offers new insights into how higher education serves as a mechanism for reproducing inequality.

Author

• Xiwen Huang, Washington University in St. Louis