(1.Department of Sociology, Peking University; 2. CITIC Securities Guangdong Branch;3. Institute of Ecological Civilization, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics;4. Nanchang Business college of JXAU)
Abstract: There is no consensus about the impact of professional qualification certificates on the income. This paper, by using the 2014 China Labor force Dynamic Survey (CLDS) of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial University, makes an analysis of the heterogeneity impact of professional qualification certificates on the income, where propensity score analysis was applied to control sample selection bias. The results show that the qualification certificates consistent with jobs in question significantly increase the income in general. In terms of the quality of human capital involved, the qualification certificates mainly increase the income of workers with no higher education. In terms of age groups, the qualification certificates elevate the income level of young workers and even more for the middle aged workers. The same results were obtained by using the propensity score analysis to control the sample selection problem. The conclusion is that workers with no higher education should be encouraged to participate in various training programs to get qualification certificates, which will improve their human capital quality as well as their income.
Key words: human capital, income, professional qualification certificate, propensity score analysis