Changes in the Structure of Employment as an Incentive to Enroll in Higher Education: Analysis of Developed and Developing Countries

Enrollment of youth in higher education varies greatly between countries despite efforts to unify and align systems of higher education worldwide. The performance of university graduates in the labor market is one of the factors that affect demand for higher education. The author postulates that the dynamics observed in the proportions of the employed with high, medium and low skills reflect changes in demand for labor and influence the rate of enrollment in higher education. The aim of the research is to analyze the influence of the structure of employment by skill level on the rate of enroll-ment for higher education in developed and developing countries. Panel data regression analysis of 218 countries and dependent territories from 1989 to 2019 indicates that an increase in demand for low-skilled labor contributes to increased demand for higher education in developed countries by facilitating employment while studying in order to pay tuition. The influence of these factors on rates of enrollment in higher education differs between the samples from 1989 to 2004 and from 2004 to 2019 in developing countries. The estimates of the coefficients from the earlier samples are consistent with the stylized fact of growth in enrollment that outpaces growth of demand for labor. During the second period, expansion of higher education is driven by economic growth and increased national income as measured by per capita GDP. This analysis supports a forecast that the trend toward polarization of jobs and the growing popularity of remote work will retard the growth of university enrollment in developed countries. Overall growth of national prosperity in developing countries will contribute to recovery of the growth in demand for higher education.