教育對因生育中斷就業女性之職業聲望流動的影響：時期的調節效果

Abstract

過去三、四十年，隨著產業結構的轉型與擴張，台灣社會在人力需求上有相當的轉變。脫離勞力密集產業、進入高科技代工、服務業部門擴張等經濟發展策略下、台灣產業對高等教育人力的需求也隨之增加，高等教育文憑成為預期個人工作生產力與經濟報酬一個重要的指標。然而，自1990年代起，隨著大學法等法規的鬆綁與變革，台灣高等教育迅速擴張，教育品質不佳、產學落差卻也使得高成低就成為台灣媒體上時有所聞的現象，暗示著高教文憑對決定個人經濟地位的重要性可能隨之遞減。本研究使用102年行政院主計處婦女婚育與就業調查資料，試圖探究高等教育對二度就業的女性的職業聲望變動的影響，特別關注高等教育在不同時期的效果。過去的研究發現，受教育年數越長，女性因婚育離開職場後再回到職場，向下流動的機率會越低。然而過往的研究較少關注教育的保護效果，是否在不同的年代而有所不同。面對人力市場供需的轉變，可能使得高等教育對女性中斷就業向下流動的保護效果跟著改變。本研究初發現，高教文憑可以降低二度就業女性職業聲望向下流動的程度，且此保護效果因女性重返職場年代的不同而有差異。高教學歷對近期重返勞動市場的女性有較強的保護效果。換言之，擁有高教學歷越加能夠減低二度就業女性職業聲望下流動的程度。此發現與我們一般所認為的「學歷貶值」一說並不一致。

This study investigates whether the role that higher education plays in preventing women from downward mobility upon returning to the labor market after leaving for childrearing has changed over the past 30 years. Prior studies suggested that compared with their less-educated counterparts, the more-educated women who quitted their jobs due to childbirth were less likely to experience a downward mobility (in the occupational prestige) as they returned to work. Yet, only few studies investigated whether the protective effects of women’s education on their employment outcomes have changed over time or may differ for people from birth cohorts. Over the past four decades, Taiwan has transformed from a labor-intensive economy that requires less education and human capital, to a capital-intensive economy that heavily relies on highly educated labors. Consequently, higher education has increasingly become an important factor in shaping individual’s economic prospects. However, since the 1990s, the drastic expansion of higher education promoted by a series of educational reform initiatives has led the Taiwanese society to cast doubt on the predictive power of higher education for one’s economic prospects. Given the changes in Taiwan’s labor market, it is likely that the protective effect of higher education may be different now than in the past. Using data from the Taiwanese Women’s Marriage, Fertility, and Employment Survey 2013, this study shows that the effect of higher education on preventing women from experiencing declines of occupational prestige upon returning to work depends on the period when they returned to the labor market. Women who returned to work in more recent years benefited more from higher education than their counterpart decades ago.