Earnings over the Life Course: General versus Vocational Education

Abstract

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The Long-term Consequences of Teacher Discretion in Grading of High-stakes Tests

“…8 See Golsteyn and Stenberg (2015) for a detailed description of vocational and other programs and for comparison of earnings over the life cycle for students choosing vocational versus other programs. 9 In particular, no other merit-based criterion (such as essays, school-specific entry tests, etc.)…”

Attractiveness is in the eye of the beholder

“…Individuals with a VET background position themselves lower in the social ladder than those who followed general education. 18 It thus appears that VET is associated with lower returns than general education using this measure of personal success (Brunello and Rocco 2017, Golsteyn and Stenberg 2017, Hanushek et al 2017. The coefficient on VET background is negative and significant among young workers (below 45 years) and old workers (45 years and above).…”

What is happening to middle skill workers?

“…This is a longer term trend, which is well documented in the United States (Hyatt and Spletzer, 2013[29]), with varying trends in other OECD countries (Flaco, Green and MacDonald, 2019[31]). 5 The counterfactual decline in middle-skill employment was performed by applying the average annual rates of hires and separations across OECD countries that prevailed from 1994-2007 to the crisis period of 2008-2012 for each age group.…”