本文使用1995年至2023年「人力運用調查（Manpower Utilization Survey）」的多年橫斷面資料，透過OLS與多層次模型，分析大學就讀不同類科對於勞力市場報酬的影響，以及高等教育擴張與大學類科的交互作用。具體來說，考量到不同大學類科在「學科領域所對應職位的不對稱勞力市場發展」、「類科數量的不均等擴張與社會封閉程度」以及「受特定制度、社會變遷影響」等方面存在差異，本文進一步檢視高等教育擴張，這一影響不同世代勞力市場競爭環境、文憑貶值的脈絡因素，是否會因就讀不同的大學類科而產生不一致的效果。
　　研究發現，大學就讀「法律」、STEM領域類科，文憑隨高等教育擴張的貶值程度較小，而就讀「醫藥衛生」和「教育」類科，平均報酬的下滑幅度較大。此外，進一步分割男、女性樣本後發現，女性就讀「法律」和「數理科學」、「工程」等STEM領域類科，不僅報酬水準較高，也較能夠抵抗文憑貶值的影響，類科內部的性別薪資差距有隨著高等教育擴張而逐漸縮小的趨勢；相反地，在「教育」和「其它」類科中，文憑的訊號能力隨著高等教育擴張而減弱，可能導致性別等背景特徵的影響加劇，女性的報酬水準下滑的幅度較高，也因此更容易陷入性別與類科的「雙重困境」。

Using repeated cross-sectional data from the 1995–2023 Manpower Utilization Survey, this study employs ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and multilevel models to examine how different college fields of study affect labor market returns, as well as how higher education expansion interacts with field of study. Specifically, considering that college fields differ in terms of asymmetric opportunities of labor markets corresponding to particular fields, the unequal expansion and degree of social closure of fields, and their exposure to specific institutional and social changes, this study investigates whether higher education expansion—a contextual factor that shapes labor market competition and credential devaluation across cohorts—has uneven effects across different fields of study.

The findings show that college degrees in “Law” and STEM fields are less subject to credential devaluation as higher education expands, whereas degrees in “Medicine and Health” and in “Education” are associated with larger declines in average returns. Further analyses by gender reveal that women who majored in “Law” and STEM fields, such as “Mathematics and Natural Sciences” and “Engineering”, not only receive higher labor market returns but are also better able to withstand the effects of credential devaluation. Within these fields, the gender wage gap tends to narrow as higher education expands. By contrast, in “Education” and “Other” fields, the signaling power of credentials weakens with higher education expansion, which may intensify the effects of background characteristics such as gender. As a result, women in these fields experience larger declines in labor market returns and are therefore more likely to face a “double disadvantage” associated with both gender and field of study.

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