College Majors and Earnings Growth
February 2026
Working Paper Number:
CES-26-14
Abstract
We estimate major-specific earnings profiles using matched American Community Survey (ACS) and Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) data. Building on Deming and Noray (2020), we exploit a long earnings panel to overcome key limitations of cross-sectional approaches to lifecycle estimation. We find that engineering and computer science majors experience earnings growth that is comparable to or faster than that of other majors, a category including humanities, education, psychology, and similar fields. In contrast, Deming and Noray (2020) use a crosscohort approach and find that earnings for engineering and computer science majors decline relative to other fields over the lifecycle.
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quarterly,
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earnings,
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Ordinary Least Squares,
Department of Education,
American Community Survey,
Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics,
Census Bureau Disclosure Review Board,
Integrated Public Use Microdata Series,
Disclosure Review Board,
Federal Statistical Research Data Center
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