Intra- and inter-cohort trends in returns to education in Israel

Recognizing the role of educational expansion and acknowledging potential differences over the life course, this chapter offers an examination of both intra- and inter-cohort changes in economic returns to education—up to the attainment of occupational maturity around age 40. We use data on three Israeli cohorts, born in the 1950s, 1960s and, 1980s, who entered the labor market before, during, and after the massive expansion of Israel's tertiary education in the 1990s. To anticipate, our analysis does not provide any support to the widespread argument that economic returns to education have declined across successive birth cohorts. College education (or lack of it), moreover, continues to act as a major marker of earnings inequality in Israel. In fact, earnings inequality between college graduates and non-college graduates has widened over the life course of Israeli men and women in each cohort studied.