2018 Volume 69 Issue 2 Pages 162-178
In this paper, I examine the effects of the degree of college selectivity in terms of admission and college major on first job attainment, paying attention to the different experiences of men and women. Through better access to higher education, relative disparity within college educational attainment has increased. In this context, previous research has focused on the effect of college selectivity, while overlooking the effect of college major or social background. In addition, researchers did not examine the experiences of women. Using integrated SSM data from 1995, 2005, and 2015, I focus on college major and social background, paying attention to women with four-year university degrees. Results of the analysis revealed three points. First, while college selectivity affected company size as a signal of trainability, college major is seen as a signal of application potential for professionals. Second, the effect of social background on the first job is mediated by college major, rather than by college selectivity. Therefore, college major choice with regard to future job aspiration plays an important role in explaining intergenerational mobility in Japan. Third, there is a gender difference in the effect of college major on the first job. For large companies, men who graduate from the humanities suffer from a negative evaluation from potential employers, while women do not. In contrast, when considering professional jobs for graduates of the STEM fields, women are less likely to be hired compared to their male counterparts—even when graduating with the same major. To summarize, this study shows that college selectivity has a limited scope in determining company size of graduates' first jobs. It also shows that differences between college majors plays an important role depending on social status and gender.
