The labor market returns to on time vs. second chance postsecondary education in the US

This article studies whether the returns to postsecondary education depend on the pattern of the educational career for the United States. Compared to Germany, American adults participate more frequently in postsecondary education and their educational careers are to a larger degree individualized. Results show that discontinuous educational careers lead to a similar wage and socioeconomic status and to the same chances of having health insurance covered by the employer at age 36. Differences were only found among those who left the education system without a Bachelor’s degree. Overall, the disadvantages were not very large when controlling for relevant variables applying propensity score kernel matching. The duration of interruptions or delays did not make any important difference. Disadvantages were larger for interruptions outside of the labor market, and effects on socioeconomic status were stronger than on wages. The latter could imply that those who enroll early and continuously are in better jobs that pay off later in the career with a higher salary.