高学历能消除劳动力市场上的容貌歧视吗？——来自财经类硕士毕业生的经验研究

Can Higher Degree Eliminate Appearance Discrimination in Labor Market?——The Evidence from Finance and Economics Postgraduates

容貌歧视是劳动力市场上存在已久的隐性就业歧视行为,因难以精确衡量而往往被忽视。当前“颜值”二字在网络和生活中高频出现,备受社会关注。因为颜值不仅影响求职者的就业机会,还与工资水平和职业发展息息相关。文章基于西南财经大学2016届和2017届硕士毕业生的就业调查数据,从容貌歧视、能力信号和行业选择视角出发,以他评颜值作为自评颜值的工具变量,运用工具变量法和分位数回归分解法考察颜值对财经类硕士毕业生起薪的影响及其机制,探讨高学历能否消除劳动力市场上的容貌歧视问题。主要发现有:财经类硕士毕业生的颜值确实影响起薪,存在“美貌溢价”,但无“丑陋罚金”;“美貌溢价”不是来源于能力信号,颜值和研究生在校能力培养无关;颜值显著影响行业进入,美貌者更容易进入以金融为代表的高收入服务业,因而获得了“美貌溢价”;分位数回归分解结果进而显示财经类硕士毕业生的容貌歧视效应随着起薪分位数升高而降低,这说明提高学历水平一定程度上有利于降低容貌歧视。总之,颜值诚可贵,能力仍重要,广大研究生应当理性看脸,内外兼修;政府要建立和完善与市场体系相符合的反就业歧视法律体系。

Appearance discrimination is a long-standing but difficult to be measured and often neglected in the labor market.With the emergence of the word“Beauty index”in the high frequency on the Internet and life,it has received much attention from the society.Appearance not only affects job seekers’employment opportunities,but also relates to salary level and career development.Based on the employment surveys for postgraduates(2016 & 2017)in Southwestern University of Finance and Economics,this study analyzes the influence and mechanism of appearance on the starting salary for finance and economics postgraduates from three different perspectives:the Ability signal,Appearance discrimination and Industry choice,using the methods of two-stage least squares estimation and Quantile Regression decomposition to test whether higher education can eliminate appearance discrimination in the labor market.The results indicate that:“Beauty premium”exists in the labor market for finance and economics postgraduates,while“Penalty for plainness”does not exist among them.“Beauty premium”is not due to ability signal,and there is no relationship between Appearance and Ability in postgraduates.Postgraduates entry into financial industry and thus obtain a higher starting salary,which leads to the“Beauty premium”.Quantile decomposition further shows that Beauty premium and Appearance discrimination decrease across the wage distribution,but the decrease is greater at the lower tail,education can make up for the shortcomings of appearance to a certain extent.Therefore,postgraduates should look at the“Beauty”rationally,and try best to be an internal and external person.Furthermore,the government should establish and improve the anti-discrimination legal system that is consistent with the market system.