Engineering Graduates in India: Determinants of their Employment and Earnings

Abstract

Engineering education has expanded fast in India during the last three decades. The expansion has been clearly in response to labour market conditions – growing demand for engineering manpower and wages relative to others. However labour market conditions are changing, and the growth in engineering education has also slowed down in the most recent years. Using the data collected through a survey of about 7,000 students enrolled in 40 engineering institutions in four different states in India, an attempt has been made in this paper to analyse two specific aspects: determinants of employment probabilities of engineering graduates and determinants of their earnings. Logistic regression and OLS technique have been used to examine respectively these two aspects. Among the hypothesized factors, education and related factors seem to be the main determinants of employment, while education related factors, job related factors and gender seem to influence the earnings of the engineering graduates. The results have important implications for policy making relating to engineering education and employment.

Keywords

• engineering education
• employment
• earnings
• India

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