Gendered Returns to Education in India: Evidence from PLFS Data

Utilizing the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data of 2023–24, this article seeks to examine private returns to education (general and technical) across three segments of the Indian labour market—regular salaried/wage employees (RSWE), casual workers and self-employed workers—disaggregated by gender. A comparison of the augmented Mincerian and selectivity-corrected estimates of returns is made. Our results show that the returns to education vary by gender and employment sectors. Gendered differences in returns are the lowest for the RSWE and the highest for self-employment. The casual sector does not seem to benefit workers irrespective of gender. There is also evidence of selection bias, and this implies that the allocation of workers into different sectors of employment is not random. This article makes an important contribution to understanding the gendered differences in returns to education, particularly for self-employment in India, for which there is scanty literature available. The findings of this study also support the argument that human capital alone, in the form of educational attainment, is not enough to ensure higher returns.