Business Cycles and School-to-Work Transitions for Vocational Students: The Role of General Skills and Educational Opportunities

Kari Salvanes and Asgeir Skålholt

No 26219, RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series from ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin)

Abstract: This paper examines whether general skills and universal access to higher education (HE) shape vocational students' school-to-work transitions during recessions. We study how increased unemployment affects post-completion outcomes across institutional regimes that differ in curricular emphasis on general skills and access to HE - allowing us to identify effects of general skills alone and combined with HE access. Relative to a setting with limited general skills and no universal HE access, combining general skills with universal HE access more than halves labour-market scarring on earnings over the first six years after completion. General skills alone do not meaningfully affect labour-market scarring.

Keywords: Dual vocational systems; general skills; access to higher education; business cycle fluctuations; scarring effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I24 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-08
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