Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/336920 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Citation: 
[Journal:] Journal for Labour Market Research [ISSN:] 2510-5027 [Volume:] 59 [Issue:] 1 [Article No.:] 2 [Year:] 2025 [Pages:] 1-34
Publisher: 
Springer, Heidelberg
Abstract: 
After the German reunification in 1990, East Germany transitioned from a centrally planned economic system to a market economy. To tackle surging unemployment, upskilling through adult education was deemed essential at the time. Besides substantial mandatory training programs provided by active labor market policies, Volkshochschulen (VHS) were the most important providers of voluntary adult education. Based on newly digitized data, we estimate how VHS courses affected unemployment in a county-level analysis of East Germany between 1991 and 2002. Our identification strategy employs the decentralized expansion of courses, which led to substantial, quasi-random variation in their regional supply. We do not find any significant effects of VHS courses on subsequent unemployment. Lacking labor demand and low market dynamics may have restricted the realization of education effects. Regional disparities support this notion: In counties bordering West Germany, courses reduced unemployment. Our results hint towards multiple mechanisms at play, as both work-related and recreational courses were found to be effective in border counties.
Subjects: 
Adult education
East Germany
Non-formal education
Unemployment
Volkshochschule
JEL: 
I21
J24
N34
P20
P36
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

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