Private Returns to Education in Belgium: an Empirical Note

In this note, we present new econometric estimates of the (private) rate of return to education in Belgium. Our estimates of the return to education lie around 6.5% to 6.8% following model specifications. Our estimations of classical Mincerian earning functions also highlight the potential existence of a screening/signalling process in the Belgian labour market, as the rate of return in the private sector is lower than in the public sector, and as the self-employed workers do not seem to benefit from their prior schooling. The results confirm previous estimates on the Belgian labour maket by Nonneman and Cortens (1995).