This paper investigates the economic (i.e., labor market) outcomes of
“training” for individuals in Pakistan. The labor market benefits of general education
have been relatively well explored in the literature and specifically in Pakistan. They
point to the benefits of education accruing both from education or skills that promote
a person’s entry into more lucrative occupations and from raising earnings within
any given occupation. This research delves into another angle by investigating the
role, if any, of acquired “training“—technical, vocational, apprenticeship, or on-thejob—
and its impact through both channels of effect on economic wellbeing. This is
done using data from a unique, purpose-designed survey of more than 1,000
households in Pakistan, collected in 2007. Multinomial logit estimates of
occupational attainment show how training determines occupational choice. In
addition, we estimate the returns to schooling and to training separately for men and
women. The results show that, while training significantly improves women’s
chances of entering self-employment and wage work (as well as the more “lucrative”
occupations), only wage-working women benefit from improved earnings through
the training they have acquired. On the other hand, men who have acquired skills
this way benefit through an improved probability of being self-employed and earning
higher returns within that occupation.
Self-employment as a stepping stone to better labor market matching: a comparison between immigrants and natives
