The returns to occupation-specific human capital - Evidence from mobility after training

Barbara Mueller and Jürg Schweri

No 81, Economics of Education Working Paper Series from University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW)

Abstract: Using a longitudinal dataset based on the PISA 2000 survey, we analyze the effect of inter-firm and occupational mobility on post-training wages in Switzerland to assess the transferability of the human capital acquired in training. We show that OLS provides a lower bound estimate of the wage effects of inter-firm and occupational mobility. Inter-firm mobility has no significant wage effect in OLS regressions. However, those who stay in their occupational field earn about 5 percent more than their colleagues who change occupation. We find no evidence for adverse selection when accounting only for apprentices’ level of ability. Accounting for the endogeneity of mobility tends to increase the estimated wage differential between occupation stayers and changers, but not between firm stayers and movers. We conclude that occupation-specific human capital is an important component of apprenticeship training and accounts for a part of the returns to training.

Keywords: apprenticeship; endogenous treatment; human capital; mobility; PISA; occupation; school-to-work transition; training (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C25 J24 J31 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2012-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm, nep-lab and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: How specific is apprenticeship training? Evidence from inter-firm and occupational mobility after graduation (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iso:educat:0081

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