%0 Journal Article
%T Estimating the Returns to Professional Certifications and Licenses in the U.S. Manufacturing Sector
%A Henry Renski
%J Economic Development Quarterly
%@ 1552-3543
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/0891242418792090
%X This study uses recently released Current Population Survey microdata to estimate the earnings premium associated with professional certification and licenses. The author finds that full-time manufacturing workers with a certification or license earn close to $200 more in median weekly earnings compared to those without. However, this does not account for differences in pay that are associated with worker endowments, such as education and gender. A Blinder¨COaxaca decomposition is used to distinguish the portion of the earnings gap that is attributable to the credential from the portion associated with endowments. Endowments explain 62% of the total earnings gap, meaning that the actual returns to a certification or license are closer to $70 per week. The author also finds that workers with no high school or college education receive a relatively larger increase in weekly earnings, compared to those with more advanced degrees
%K manufacturing
%K certifications
%K licensing
%K education
%K training
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0891242418792090