Can vocational education improve schooling and labour outcomes? Evidence from a large expansion

João Ferreira and Pedro Martins

Nova SBE Working Paper Series from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics

Abstract: We evaluate the education and labour impact of vocational education and training (VET). Identification draws on a reform to reduce early school leaving, which involved a large-scale, staggered introduction of VET courses. Drawing on comprehensive student-school matched panel data, we find that VET increased upper secondary graduation rates considerably: our LATE estimates are as large as 50 percentage points. These effects are even stronger for low-achieving students and welfare recipients; and also hold when exploiting the large gender differences of VET, with many courses selected almost only by either boys or girls. Moreover, we find evidence of regional youth employment growth and VET wage premiums following VET expansion.

Keywords: Educational attainment; Vocational education; Matched student-teacher-school; data; Portugal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I26 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 66 pages
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-eur and nep-ure
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Can Vocational Education Improve Schooling and Labour Outcomes? Evidence from a Large Expansion (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:unl:unlfep:wp658

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