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The study matches resumes from an online jobs board to administrative educational records, finding that about one in three job-seekers who attended college but did not earn a degree omits their only post-secondary schooling. These omissions reflect strategic choices tied to schooling characteristics, with additional evidence of resume misrepresentation and implications for employer learning and returns to college.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/labor-market-signaling-and-the-value-of-college-evidence-from-resumes-and-the-truth/158708/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/labor-market-signaling-and-the-value-of-college-evidence-from-resumes-and-the-truth/158708.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"นรินทร์","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-17","2026-08-29",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How do college non-completers choose to disclose schooling on resumes?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The study examines whether non-completers strategically omit partially completed schooling when listing education, treating non-completion as a potentially negative signal.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What data and method are used to test resume disclosure behavior?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Resumes from an online jobs board are matched to administrative educational records to compare what is claimed with what is recorded.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What do the results show about omission and misrepresentation?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"About one in three job-seekers who attended college but did not earn a degree omits their post-secondary schooling. The omissions are systematic rather than casual, and the study also finds evidence of lying on resumes, identifying which listed degrees are most likely untrue.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},158708,1788006676,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},2336475104957,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/22000c4c6bd8a5076e1?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1787554080175789136","EdWorkingPaper No. 21-423  \nLabor Market Signaling and the Value of  \nCollege: Evidence from Resumes and the Truth  \nDaniel Kreisman  \nGeorgia State University  \nJonathan Smith  \nGeorgia State University  \nBondi Arifin  \nRepublic of Indonesia  \nHow 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 oflying, 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.  \nVERSION: June 2021  \nSuggested citation: Kreisman, Daniel, Jonathan Smith, and Bondi Arifin. (2021). Labor Market Signaling and the Value of College: Evidence from Resumes and the Truth. (EdWorkingPaper: 21-423). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: [https://-](https://-)[doi.org/10.26300/knq9-cj61](doi.org/10.26300/knq9-cj61)  \nLabor Market Signaling and the Value of College: Evidence from Resumes and the Truth  \nDaniel Kreisman∗ Georgia State University  \nJonathan Smith Georgia State University  \nBondi Arifin Ministry of Finance, Republic of Indonesia  \nJune, 2021  \nAbstract  \nHow 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.  \nKeywords: Signaling; Resume; Employer Learning; Statistical Discrimination; Jobs Board.  \nJEL: J01, J24  \nThis work does not represent opinions of the College Board, the National Student Clearinghouse, or any other organization.  \n∗ Corresponding author: Kreisman at [dkreisman@gsu.edu](dkreisman@gsu.edu) .  \n1 Introduction  \nIdentifying productive from unproductive workers at hire is among the most difficult and costly challenges firms 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 effort to distinguish themselves in the hiring process, workers can take steps to signal their productivity to employers, possibly by investing in schooling.  \nThe 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 schooling does little more than help employers distinguish productive from unpr","cbCaitykISJHegez","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitykISJHegez","pdf",1305874,37,"English","# Introduction\n## Signaling and employer learning\n## Returns to schooling and non-completion\n## Research approach and implications","[{\"question\":\"How do college non-completers choose to disclose schooling on resumes?\",\"answer\":\"The study examines whether non-completers strategically omit partially completed schooling when listing education, treating non-completion as a potentially negative signal.\"},{\"question\":\"What data and method are used to test resume disclosure behavior?\",\"answer\":\"Resumes from an online jobs board are matched to administrative educational records to compare what is claimed with what is recorded.\"},{\"question\":\"What do the results show about omission and misrepresentation?\",\"answer\":\"About one in three job-seekers who attended college but did not earn a degree omits their post-secondary schooling. The omissions are systematic rather than casual, and the study also finds evidence of lying on resumes, identifying which listed degrees are most likely untrue.\"}]","Labor Market Signaling and the Value of College - Evidence from Resumes and the Truth | PDF",93]