Quality of Higher Education and the Labor Market in Developing Countries: Evidence from an Education Reform in Senegal

Dorothee Boccanfuso, Alexandre Larouche () and Mircea Trandafir
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Alexandre Larouche: Del Degan, Massé

No 9099, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: While many studies examine the effect of primary education quality on labor market outcomes in developing countries, little is known about the effects at higher levels. We exploit the quasi-experiment provided by a large-scale education reform launched in Senegal in 2000 to investigate how quality improvements at the university level affect employment. Our difference-in-difference estimates suggest that young high-skilled workers experienced a nine percentage-point employment gain relative to older workers. They are also more likely to have "better" jobs (in the service industry or government), suggesting a reduction in the mismatch between the quality of high-skill labor demanded and supplied.

Keywords: higher education; employment; impact analysis; quality mismatch (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 O15 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2015-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dev, nep-edu and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Published - published in: World Development, 2015, 74, 412-424

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Related works:
Journal Article: Quality of Higher Education and the Labor Market in Developing Countries: Evidence from an Education Reform in Senegal (2015)
Working Paper: Quality of higher education and the labor market in developing countries: Evidence from an education reform in Senegal (2012)
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