Wage premiums and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on highly educated employees in nine Asian countries
- The Indian Journal of Labour Economics
- 68(4), Oct-Dec, 2025: p.1165-1186
This study explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the wage premiums of highly educated employees in nine major Asian cities. Using data from 2019 and 2022, it provides a comparative analysis, by country and gender, of how the premium for highly educated employees changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. We use an ordinary least squares analysis to estimate five models, with control variables such as employee position, firm size, industry type, and marital status. Our findings confirm that university graduates are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022 more than postgraduates and that female employees are more affected than male employees. India and Vietnam do not have a robust wage premium for highly educated employees, especially in 2022. Only three countries—Japan, Korea, and Malaysia—maintain significant postgraduate wage premiums for both genders in 2019 and 2022. Similarly, four countries—China, Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia—have significant university graduate wage premiums for both genders in 2019 and 2022. Our analysis reveals that the growing number of highly educated Asian employees does not establish a position for employment and wages that is stable enough to withstand economic shocks during emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic.-Reproduced