Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/114150 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9275
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Several commentators have argued that vocational education provides a smoother school to work transition than academic education. In the long - run, however, the skills it provides depreciate faster and individuals with this type of education are less capable of adapting to technical change. Because of this, its short - term advantages trade off with expected long-term disadvantages in terms of employment, wages or both. Using two UK cohort studies, that allow us to follow individuals for at least 16 years in the labour market, we investigate whether this view has empirical support. For employment, our results indicate that the initial advantage associated to vocational education declines over time, without turning however into a disadvantage at later ages. For real net wages, the picture is more nuanced, with results that vary by cohort and educational level. Overall, our evidence suggests that vocational education is associated to lower expected long-term utility only for the younger cohort with higher (post-secondary) education. We further distinguish between dominant and non-dominant vocational education to account for the different bundles of skills held by individuals, and find that those with a more balanced bundle tend to have higher expected long-term earnings.
Subjects: 
vocational
academic education
UK
JEL: 
J31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
335.19 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.