Social origins, track choices and labour-market outcomes: evidence from the French case

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>

2021 ◽  
pp. 85-106
Author(s):  
Yun Young Kim ◽  
Young Jun Choi

This chapter aims to explore the role of education and social investment, with special attention on the effects of shadow education on social mobility in Korea. It analyses how family background and shadow education influence educational attainment and, subsequently, how educational attainment affects incomes, using data from the Korea Education and Employment Panel (KEEP). Since this 'broken social elevator' is not a problem faced only by Korea — most OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries have 'sticky ceilings' and 'sticky floors' — the chapter then discusses the direction social investment policies should take to reboot social mobility. It argues that in order to minimise the effects of family background on educational attainment and labour market outcomes, social investment policies should actively play a redistributive role.


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):  
Jesper Fels Birkelund ◽  
Kristian Bernt Karlson ◽  
David Reimer

We study the relationship among family background, placements in upper secondary school tracks and labour market outcomes in the comprehensive welfare state of Denmark. We base our study on high-quality data from Danish administrative registers with a focus on the 1986 birth cohort, which allows us to examine very fine-grained measures of track placement in upper secondary schools. Our analyses show three results. First, upper secondary track placement is consequential for labour market outcomes, even after we control for the selection into tracks on pre-track academic performance and family background characteristics. Second, upper secondary track placement appears to affect labour market outcomes even net of higher education attainment. Third, educational tracking appears to play a role in intergenerational social reproduction net of family background-based skill gaps, suggesting that track choice help maintain inequalities across generations. We discuss the implications of our findings for the literature on educational tracking.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Upper secondary school tracking is relevant for labor market outcomes in Denmark.</li><br /><li>Even after we control for pre-tracking academic performance and family SES tracking effects persist.</li><br /><li>Track placement seems to affect labor market outcomes net of higher education attainment.</li><br /><li>Educational tracking appears to play a role in intergenerational social reproduction net of family background-based skill gaps.</li></ul>


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 671-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonya Huffman ◽  
Marian Rizov

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the impacts of overweight and obesity on the probability of employment, wages, and the incidence of sick-leave days by gender, in Russia, over the transition period, 1994-2005. Design/methodology/approach – The authors uses panel data and appropriate instrumental variables techniques to estimate a set of three models. Findings – The results show a linear negative effect of body mass index (BMI) on probability of employment for women and positive effect for men. The authors did not find evidence of wage penalty for higher BMI, a result different from findings of several studies on developed market economies. There is also positive impact of BMI on the number of work days missed due to health problems for women. Originality/value – The results derived in transition context add evidence to the growing obesity and labour market outcomes literature emphasising the relative importance of the labour supply side compared to the demand side. The policy implications of our study are gender specific.


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