Is it Worth Becoming an Engineer in Central and Eastern Europe? The Evidence from Poland and Estonia.

The aim of this study is to examine the labour market returns to field of study for tertiary graduates in two countries with post-socialist heritage: Poland and Estonia. So far, research focusing on the employment chances of graduates in Western countries has emphasized the benefits of engineering. We would like to revisit this conclusion and find out if the same can be generalized for all other societies, including Central and Eastern Europe. We use micro-level data, which include detailed information about the type of education gained and early career development. We examine the following outcomes: the chances of finding a job within the first half-year of graduation and the quality of the first job and its salary. Our findings suggest that in Estonia and Poland, the effects of completing engineering courses are quite different to Western Europe. We discuss possible explanations for the lack of advantage for engineering graduates. We pay special attention to the role of licensing, i.e. institutional barriers to entry into the occupation of engineer. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]