Who Scars the Easiest? College Quality and Earnings Losses from Graduating into a Recession

Garrett Anstreicher; Lois Miller

doi:10.1177/00197939261426341

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Who Scars the Easiest? College Quality and Earnings Losses from Graduating into a Recession

Journal article

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Who Scars the Easiest? College Quality and Earnings Losses from Graduating into a Recession

Garrett Anstreicher and Lois Miller

Industrial & labor relations review, Vol.79(4), pp.652-683

08/01/2026

DOI: 10.1177/00197939261426341

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Abstract

Graduating from college into a recession is associated with earnings losses, but less is known about how these effects vary across colleges. Using restricted-use data from the National Survey of College Graduates, the authors study how the effects of graduating into adverse economic conditions vary over college quality in the context of the Great Recession. They find that earnings losses are concentrated among graduates from relatively high-quality colleges. Key mechanisms include substitution out of the labor force and into graduate school, decreased graduate degree completion, and differences in the economic stability of fields of study between graduates of high- and low-quality colleges.

Business & Economics

Industrial Relations & Labor

Social Sciences

Details

Title: Subtitle: Who Scars the Easiest? College Quality and Earnings Losses from Graduating into a Recession
Creators: Garrett Anstreicher - University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Lois Miller - University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Industrial & labor relations review, Vol.79(4), pp.652-683
DOI: 10.1177/00197939261426341
ISSN: 0019-7939
eISSN: 2162-271X
Publisher: Sage
Number of pages: 32
Grant note: Federal Statistical Research Data Center under FSRDC Project Graduate School at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; University of Wisconsin Madison 2508; CBDRB-FY21-P2508-R9066; CBDRB-FY22-P2508-R9486; CBDRB-FY23-P2508-R10520; CBDRB-FY23-P2508-R11545; CBDRB-FY25-P2508-R12459 / Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; University of Wisconsin Madison DGE-1747503 / National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program; National Science Foundation (NSF) DGE-1747503 / university of wisconsin-madison; University of Wisconsin Madison Summer Research Fellowship by the University of Wisconsin-Madison National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program; National Science Foundation (NSF) Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation; University of Wisconsin Madison
Language: English
Date published: 08/01/2026
Academic Unit: Economics
Record Identifier: 9985217031902771

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