Duration of High School Education and Youth Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence from a Policy Experiment in Ghana

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 617-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Abekah‐Nkrumah ◽  
Patrick Opoku Asuming ◽  
Hadrat Yusif
2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekka Christopoulou

Abstract: Youth labour outcomes in comparison to those of prime-age adults have worsened across the OECD since the mid-1970s. English-speaking countries experienced mostly declines in relative pay; continental European countries experienced mostly declines in relative employment. This paper aims to explain these developments by estimating a system of simultaneous equations on a panel of 10 advanced economies. The results suggest that the deterioration in the youth labour market has been due to inward shifts in relative demand, offset only partially by reductions in relative supply. The heterogeneity in the deterioration across countries was caused partly by differential rates of relative pay adjustment, depending on each country’s mix of labour market institutions and the priority attached by social partners to youth employment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuela Ghignoni ◽  
Giuseppe Croce ◽  
Alessandro d’Ambrosio

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider the enrolment at university and the subsequent possible dropout as a piece of the school-to-work transition and ask whether it improves or worsens the labour market outcomes a few years after graduation from the high school. Design/methodology/approach The analysis exploits data from the upper secondary graduate survey by ISTAT on a cohort of high school graduates and investigates the effect of dropping out four years after graduation. The labour market outcomes of university dropouts are compared to the outcomes of high school graduates who never enrolled at university. A propensity score matching approach is applied. The model is also estimated on the subsamples of males and females. Findings The findings show that spending a period at university and leaving it before completion makes the transition to work substantially more difficult. Both the probability of being NEET and getting a bad job increase in the case of dropout, while no relevant effect is found on earnings. Moreover, the impact of university dropout tends to be more harmful the longer the spell from enrolment to dropping out. Separate estimates by gender point out that females appear to be relatively more affected in the case of dropping out without a fallback plan. Originality/value While the existing studies in the literature on the school-to-work transition mostly focus on the determinants of the dropout, this paper investigates whether and how the employment outcomes are affected by dropping out in Italy. Moreover, university dropouts are compared to high school graduates with no university experience, rather than to university graduates. Finally, evidence on the mechanisms driving the effect of dropping out is provided, by considering timing and motivations for dropping out.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alena Bičáková ◽  
Guido Matias Cortes ◽  
Jacopo Mazza

Abstract We show that cohorts of male graduates who start college during worse economic times earn higher average wages than those who start during better times. This is not explained by differences in selection into employment, economic conditions at graduation, or field of study choices. Graduates who enrol in bad times are not more positively selected based on their high-school outcomes, but they achieve higher college grades and earn higher wages conditional on their grades. Patterns for female graduates are similar, though less robust. Our results suggest that individuals who enrol during downturns exert more effort during their studies.


Author(s):  
Estelle Herbaut ◽  
Carlo Barone ◽  
Mathieu Ichou ◽  
Louis-André Vallet

This paper examines the labour-market returns to different high school tracks in the French context. We use rich nationally representative longitudinal data running from the beginning of secondary education until entrance into the labour market: the Panel d’élèves du second degré, recrutement 1995 combined with the Entrée dans la vie adulte-EVA follow-up survey. Analysing these data, we are able to identify the consequences of track placement in high school on various labour-market outcomes controlling for social and academic selection into tracking. Our results show that academic diplomas offer higher labour-market benefits than vocational diplomas, even when adjusting for selection into tracks based on prior school performance, family background and other socio-demographic characteristics. The advantage of the academic track stays large, both for the whole group of upper secondary graduates and for those who have not achieved a tertiary degree. Our results further indicate that academic qualifications are even more rewarding for service-class graduates. We discuss the theoretical and policy implications of our results for processes of intergenerational reproduction.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Secondary academic diplomas offer higher labour market benefits than vocational ones, even when adjusting for selection into tracks.</li><br /><li>The academic path is the most rewarding option in France, even among students who do not complete tertiary education.</li><br /><li>Secondary academic qualifications are even more rewarding for service class graduates, in terms of boosting access to service class jobs.</li></ul>


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