Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/152324 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
GLO Discussion Paper No. 7
Publisher: 
Global Labor Organization (GLO), Maastricht
Abstract: 
This paper reports evidence on the strong tendency of the college educated to match with partners who graduated in the same field of study - a dimension of assortative matching that has been overlooked thus far. We employ Labor Force Survey data covering most EU countries to measure the extent of field-of-study homogamy in prevailing married and cohabiting couples within several years of college graduation. We find that field-of-study homogamy increases almost immediately after graduation to reach very high levels, especially for spouses working in the same industry, and that it varies dramatically across countries. Graduates in Social Sciences display a particularly strong tendency towards homogamy and also have the highest matching theory-implied match gains from homogamous matches.
Subjects: 
Field-of-Study Homogamy
College Graduates
Marriage and Cohabitation
JEL: 
I23
J13
J16
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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