The impact of academic interest and university major on labor market performance

In this study, I tried to find the association between academic interest of university freshman and labor market performance. This study combined College Entrance Examination Data and administration data of labor insurance from Ministry of Labor to acquire academic interest and labor market performance of the same individual. I separated the samples into three groups- students whose major matched their academic interest, students whose major did not match their academic interest, and students with no academic interest. I estimated the payoff of academic interest for each department. The empirical result could not confirm that students whose major matched their academic interest received higher wage. However, I found that the preceding impact was weaker in the fields or departments which are traditionally preferred by parents. This phenomenon suggested that parents’ preference might play an important role in the decision of degree choice.