Correcting Beliefs About Job Opportunities and Wages: A Field Experiment on Education Choices

Bart K. de Koning (), Didier Fouarge () and Robert Dur ()
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Bart K. de Koning: Cornell University
Didier Fouarge: ROA, Maastricht University
Robert Dur: Erasmus University Rotterdam

No 17951, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We run a field experiment in which we provide information to students about job opportunities and hourly wages of occupations they are interested in. The experiment takes place within a widely-used career orientation program in the Netherlands, and involves 28,186 pre-vocational secondary education students in 243 schools over two years. The information improves the accuracy of students' beliefs and leads them to change their preferred occupation to one with better labor market prospects. Administrative data that covers up to four years after the experiment shows that students choose (and remain in) post-secondary education programs with better job opportunities and higher hourly wages as a result of the information treatment.

Keywords: field experiment; labor market information; education choice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D83 I26 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-06
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