本文利用1978-2001年主計處之「人力運用調查」原始資料，探討教育投資報酬率近二十餘年來的變化及其原因。研究結果發現，這段期間內，台灣地區教育報酬率約在5.0%-7.8%之間，1987-1994年間雖呈現下降的趨勢，但長期而言仍呈上升的趨勢。且女性的教育報酬率皆高於男性，其問之差異自1989年後更為顯著。再者，教育報酬率大體上是隨著教育程度的增加而提高，高等教育雖經過去十幾年的急速擴充，其投資報酬率仍是最高的。另外值得一提的是，即使不再升學，高中教育之報酬率也略高於高職教育。若以學門別來看教育報酬率，則醫學相關科系最佳，其次依序為法商、理工、及文科。若以產業別來看，則發現服務業的教育報酬率一般高於工業與農業，且服務業與工業問的差異自1990年起明顯地擴大。若以公、私部門別來看，公部門的教育報酬率一般高於私部門。
This paper provides evidence with regard to the behavior over time of the rate of return to education in Taiwan during the 1978-2001 period. By employing the Manpower Utilization Survey, our results exhibit a general pattern of increasing rates of return to schooling over the past two decades, with slightly larger estimates for women, for the general curricula (high schools), for the services sector, and for the public sector. Moreover, since the estimated rate of return is increasing with the years of schooling in general, our findings lead us to conclude that investment in higher education continues to be an attractive investment opportunity.
