Tuesday 03 December 2024 12:55 - 14:00

SAL 2.04, 2nd Floor Conference Room, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, LSE, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH

About this event

Using two polygenic risk scores (PRS) for educational attainment obtained from a biomedical study of all those born in a single week in Great Britain in 1958 we show that the genetic predisposition for educational attainment affects labour market participation and wages over the life-course for men and women. Those with a higher PRS spend more time in employment, especially full-time employment and, when in employment, earn higher hourly wages. The employment effects are more pronounced for women than for men. Conditional on employment, the PRS wage effects are sizeable, persistent and similar for men and women between ages 33 and 55. A one standard deviation increase in the PRS is associated with a 6-10 log point increase in hourly earnings. However, whereas a 1 standard deviation increase in the PRS at age 23 raises women’s earnings by around 5 log points, it is not statistically significant among men. These wage effects are robust to non-random selection into employment and to controls for parental education.

Participants are expected to adhere to the CEP Events Code of Conduct.

Directions

This event will take place in SAL 2.04, 2nd Floor Conference Room, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, LSE, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH.

Labour Markets Workshops are part of the CEP's Labour Markets programme.