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A Second Chance? Labor Market Returns to Adult Education Using School Reforms

Author

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  • Bennett, Patrick

    (Centre for Applied Research, Norwegian School of Economics)

  • Blundell, Richard

    (University College London and IFS)

  • Salvanes, Kjell Gunnar

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

Abstract

Roughly one third of a cohort drop out of high school across OECD countries, and developing effective tools to address prime-aged high school dropouts is a key policy question. We leverage high quality Norwegian register data, and for identification we exploit reforms enabling access to high school for adults above the age of 25. The paper finds that considerable increases in high school completion and beyond among women lead to higher earnings, increased employment, and decreased fertility. As male education remains unchanged by the reforms, later life education reduces the pre-existing gender earnings gap by a considerable fraction.

Suggested Citation

  • Bennett, Patrick & Blundell, Richard & Salvanes, Kjell Gunnar, 2020. "A Second Chance? Labor Market Returns to Adult Education Using School Reforms," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 14/2020, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2020_014
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    Cited by:

    1. Pedro Carneiro & Kjell Salvanes & Barton Willage & Alexander Willén, 2023. "Childhood Shocks Across Ages and Human Capital Formation," Working Papers 2023-018, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    2. Patrick Bennett, 2021. "The Work-To-School Transition: Job Displacement and Skill Upgrading among Young High School Dropouts," CESifo Working Paper Series 9417, CESifo.
    3. Bennett, P. & Liu, K. & Salvanes, K., 2023. "The Decline of Routine Tasks, Education Investments, and Intergenerational Mobility," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2329, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    4. Tilley, J. Lucas, 2023. "School resources, peer inputs, and student outcomes in adult education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    5. Karlsson, Linn, 2021. "Never too late? Returning to university after completing secondary education as adults," Umeå Economic Studies 1002, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    6. Kauhanen, Antti & Virtanen, Hanna, 2021. "Heterogeneity in Labor Market Returns to Adult Education," ETLA Working Papers 91, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    7. Carneiro, Pedro & Salvanes, Kjell G. & Willage, Barton & Willén, Alexander, 2022. "The Timing of Parental Job Displacement, Child Development and Family Adjustment," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 12/2022, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    8. Richard Blundell, 2022. "Inequality, Redistribution and Wage Progression," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(S1), pages 160-177, June.
    9. Kirill Borusyak & Xavier Jaravel & Jann Spiess, 2021. "Revisiting Event Study Designs: Robust and Efficient Estimation," Papers 2108.12419, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2024.
    10. Patrick Bennett & Kai Liu & Kjell Salvanes, 2023. "The Decline of Routine Tasks, Education Investments, and Intergenerational Mobility," Upjohn Working Papers 23-382, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Adult Education; Returns to Education; Fertility; Gender inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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