The gendered impact of study abroad on monetary and non-monetary labor market outcomes in Japan and the United States

• In Event: Educational regimes and success in the life course: The Role of digital literacy, transnational competencies and personality in schooled societies

Proposal

International student mobility (ISM) has expanded worldwide in the last few decades (from 0.8 million students enrolled in tertiary education outside of their country of citizenship to 6.1 million in 2019). This development is primarily seen as an outcome of individuals from the so-called “Global South” being pushed out and pulled into the “Global North” to achieve valuable degrees with guaranteed rewards on their home labor markets. However, we can also observe a partly dramatic increase in the number of students from the “Global North”, i.e., highly industrialized societies with the best higher education systems in the world (schooled societies), spending (parts of) their studies abroad.
Both developments can in part be attributed to the understanding of ‘transnational human capital’ (THC) as a legitimate, essential resource for global competitiveness and a desirable attribute of individuals to cope with the challenges of global environments, which pushed governments around the world to implemented programs to promote ISM. However, ISM is also increasingly pursued to supplement or enhance individual careers—especially in schooled societies—because the gradual transformation and institutionalization of THC as valued cultural capital provides an opportunity for affluent families to pursue additional status-setting investment.
Indeed, past research indicates moderately positive effects of studying abroad (SA) on labor market outcomes in many schooled societies—although primarily reaped by advantaged strata. However, female students tend to be disproportionally more likely to become internationally mobile, but whether and under which conditions they are equally or more/less likely to benefit from their international mobility on their home labor market is all but clear. Unfortunately, comparative studies remain the exception, wherefore we do not know much about the differential labor market outcomes of individuals with SA experience in cross-country comparison.
To narrow this research gap, we draw on national panel data for two schooled societies with low but increasing SA rates, significant SES and gender inequality in SA uptake, and highly sophisticated higher education systems tightly linked to the domestic labor market: Japan and the United States. Although both countries promote outbound ISM to enhance global human resources and tackle high skilled labor shortage, their approaches somewhat differ: Japan explicitly promotes ISM as part of its national revitalization strategy, whereas the US broadly promotes outbound SA as part of a cooperative university agenda.
Against this background, we ask how is study abroad experience rewarded on the US-American in comparison to the Japanese labor market? Are transnational experiences a career booster for women, men, or both? To answer these questions, we combine gender inequality with cultural/social reproduction and job-competition theories. The derived hypotheses are tested by means of comparative structural equation models. Results indicate that SA positively affects women’s education and career in both countries, but Japanese women tend to benefit less in terms of income or work satisfaction. Finally, our findings are discussed with regards to the possible role of international mobility in the promotion of global human resources and individual careers with regards to social and gender inequalities in Japan and the US.

Authors

• Steve Richard Entrich, Universität Zürich

• Soo-yong Byun, Penn State University

• Sho Fujihara, The University of Tokyo