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Career Changers in Teaching Jobs: A Case Study Based on the Swiss Vocational Education System

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Author Info

  • Hof, Stefanie

    () (Swiss Co-ordination Center for Research in Education)

  • Strupler, Mirjam

    () (University of Bern)

  • Wolter, Stefan C.

    () (University of Bern)

Abstract

This study investigates the determinants and motives of professionals who change career to vocational teaching. The framework for this study is the Swiss vocational education system, which requires that teachers of vocational subjects must have a prior career in that specific field. Thus, to work in teaching, every vocational teacher has to change his or her initial career. This paper focuses on the relevance of monetary motives for changing a career to teaching. Using a unique data set of trainee teachers, we show that professionals who change their careers to teaching earned on average more in their first career than comparable workers in the same occupation. Our findings additionally demonstrate that the average career changer still expects to earn significantly more as a teacher than in the former career. However, the study shows substantial heterogeneity and a zero wage elasticity of the teacher supply, suggesting that non-monetary motives are more relevant for career change than monetary factors.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 5806.

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Length: 25 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2011
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5806

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Related research

Keywords: career change; occupational change; rate of return to education; wage differentials; teacher wages; vocational education and training;

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References

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  1. Arnaud Chevalier & Peter Dolton & Steven Mcintosh, 2007. "Recruiting and Retaining Teachers in the UK: An Analysis of Graduate Occupation Choice from the 1960s to the 1990s," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(293), pages 69-96, 02.
  2. Regula Geel & Johannes Mure & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2011. "Specificity of occupational training and occupational mobility: an empirical study based on Lazear’s skill-weights approach," Education Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 19(5), pages 519-535, January.
  3. Stefan Denzler & Stefan C. Wolter, 2009. "Laufbahnentscheide im Lehrberuf aus bildungsökonomischer Sicht," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0041, University of Zurich, Institute for Strategy and Business Economics (ISU).
  4. Hanushek, Eric A. & Pace, Richard R., 1995. "Who chooses to teach (and why)?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 101-117, June.
  5. Parrado, Eric & Caner, Asena & Wolff, Edward N., 2007. "Occupational and industrial mobility in the United States," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 435-455, June.
  6. Edward P. Lazear, 2009. "Firm-Specific Human Capital: A Skill-Weights Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 117(5), pages 914-940, October.
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  8. Stefan C. Wolter & Stefan Denzler & Bernhard A. Weber, 2003. "Betrachtungen zum Arbeitsmarkt der Lehrer in der Schweiz," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 72(2), pages 305-319.
  9. Matthew M. Chingos & Martin R. West, 2010. "Do More Effective Teachers Earn More Outside of the Classroom?," CESifo Working Paper Series 2996, CESifo Group Munich.
  10. Podgursky, Michael & Monroe, Ryan & Watson, Donald, 2004. "The academic quality of public school teachers: an analysis of entry and exit behavior," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 507-518, October.
  11. Gary S. Becker, 1962. "Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70, pages 9.
  12. Torberg Falch, 2008. "The elasticity of labor supply at the establishment level," Working Papers 1106, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
  13. Wolter, Stefan C. & Ryan, Paul, 2011. "Apprenticeship," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier.
  14. Wolter, Stefan C. & Denzler, Stefan, 2003. "Wage Elasticity of the Teacher Supply in Switzerland," IZA Discussion Papers 733, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  15. Jovanovic, Boyan, 1979. "Job Matching and the Theory of Turnover," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages 972-90, October.
  16. Longhi, Simonetta & Brynin, Malcolm, 2010. "Occupational change in Britain and Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 655-666, August.
  17. Stinebrickner, Todd R, 2001. "A Dynamic Model of Teacher Labor Supply," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(1), pages 196-230, January.
  18. Dolton, Peter J., 2006. "Teacher Supply," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier.
  19. Neal, Derek, 1999. "The Complexity of Job Mobility among Young Men," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(2), pages 237-61, April.
  20. Gueorgui Kambourov & Iourii Manovskii, 2008. "Rising Occupational And Industry Mobility In The United States: 1968-97," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(1), pages 41-79, 02.
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