A Premium for a Degree in Engineering: An Estimation of Returns to the Field-Specific Education in Russia

We study variation in returns to five groups of majors — pedagogic, engineering, law or economics, humanities and medicine — in terms of wage and employment stability based on The Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey. We find a significant variation in returns to majors with the highest positive wage premiums in engineering, for both males and females, and to higher and secondary degree holders. The year of graduation turns out to be statistically insignificant implying that the «new» degrees are not systematically better or worse than the «old» ones