Labor Market Signaling and the Value of College - Evidence from Resumes and the Truth - Discussion Paper Series

Aug 29, 2026

Uploaded by Mali

The paper investigates how college non-completers represent education on job resumes and whether omission reflects strategic signaling rather than oversight. Matching resumes from an online jobs board with administrative education records, the study finds that about one in three applicants who attended college but did not earn a degree omit their only post-secondary schooling. Omissions correlate with schooling characteristics like selectivity and years of enrollment. The paper also documents evidence of lying and identifies which listed degrees are most likely untrue, then discusses implications for employer learning and signaling assumptions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages38

Reading Time1 h 36 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Hiring and employer learning

Signaling through schooling

Returns to schooling and non-completion

DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES IZA DP No. 14483 Labor Market Signaling and the Value of College: Evidence from Resumes and the Truth Daniel Kreisman Jonathan Smith Bondi Ari n JUNE 2021 DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES IZA DP No. 14483 Labor Market Signaling and the Value of College: Evidence from Resumes and the Truth Daniel Kreisman Georgia State University and IZA Jonathan Smith Georgia State University and IZA Bondi Ari n Ministry of Finance, Republic of Indonesia JUNE 2021 Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world’s largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. IZA – Institute of Labor Economics | Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 5–9 53113 Bonn, Germany | Phone: +49-228-3894-0
Email: [publications@iza.org](publications@iza.org) [www.iza.org](www.iza.org) | | --- | --- | IZA DP No. 14483 JUNE 2021 ABSTRACT Labor Market Signaling and the Value of College: Evidence from Resumes and the Truth* How do college non-completers list schooling on their resumes? The negative signal of not completing might outweigh the positive signal of attending but not persisting. If so, job-seekers might hide non-completed schooling on their resumes. To test this we match resumes from an online jobs board to administrative educational records. We find that fully one in three job-seekers who attended college but did not earn a degree omit their only post-secondary schooling from their resumes. We further show that these are not casual omissions but are strategic decisions systematically related to schooling characteristics, such as selectivity and years of enrollment. We also find evidence of lying, and show which degrees listed on resumes are most likely untrue. Lastly, we discuss implications. We show not only that this implies a commonly held assumption, that employers perfectly observe schooling, does not hold, but also that we can learn about which college experiences students believe are most valued by employers. JEL Classification: J01, J24 Keywords: signaling, resume, employer learning, statistical discrimination, jobs board Corresponding author: Daniel Kreisman Department of Economics Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30302-3992 United States E-mail: [dkreisman@gsu.edu](dkreisman@gsu.edu) * This work does not represent opinions of the College Board, the National Student Clearinghouse, or any other organization. 1 Introduction Identifying productive from unproductive workers at hire is among the most di􀀎cult and costly challenges 􀀌rms face. A broad literature in economics acknowledge as much in large part by focusing on how employers learn about workers’ productivity only after a hire is made. In an e􀀋ort to distinguish themselves in the hiring process, workers can take steps to signal their productivity to employers, possibly by investing in schooling. The degree to which this schooling imparts skills to workers or whether it primarily serves as a signal of their pre-existing ability is a perennial question in economics, one that has nearly spawned its own literature. Policy concerns are not far behind. If

FAQs

How does the study assess what job-seekers know or believe when listing education on resumes?

It matches resumes from an online jobs board to administrative educational records, allowing the paper to compare what applicants disclose with what they actually attended or completed.

What is the main finding about resumes of college attendees who did not earn a degree?

Roughly one in three such job-seekers omit their only post-secondary schooling from their resumes.

How does the paper interpret resume omissions and potential lying?

The omissions are treated as systematic, strategic decisions tied to schooling characteristics, and the paper further reports evidence of lying, identifying which listed degrees are most likely untrue, with implications for employer observation assumptions.

Aug 29, 2026

Uploaded by Mali