IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unm/unumer/2016002.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

New variables for vocational secondary schooling: Patterns around the world from 1950-2010

Author

Listed:
  • Cathles, Alison

    (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University)

Abstract

Projections in Europe and the United States suggest job vacancies will soon be concentrated in positions that require vocational training. This has spurred policy discussions about how vocational education can optimally complement or substitute for general education and highlighted the need to understand more precisely how the mix of skills in a workforce impacts economic growth. Macroeconomic growth literature has traditionally incorporated measures for human capital based on the length of time spent in educational institutions. The need to measure the skills acquired through different kinds of education has been appreciated. Specifically, the insights that might be obtained by comparing the macroeconomic growth of countries with different amounts of vocational education has been apparent, but the long-time series of internationally comparable data required has not been readily available. This paper fills this need by presenting consistent data on Vocational Secondary Schooling at five-year intervals from 1950-2010 for 129 countries. These data are constructed on the basis of existing UNESCO enrolment data and measures of secondary schooling from Barro and Lee. This paper describes both the methods used to construct the internationally comparable vocational secondary education variables and regional trends over the past 60 years. Separating education by type, vocational and general, is a first step toward better linking the educational purpose, at least in terms of workplace skill development, with economic results. The data are fully presented in the Annexes in tables (available here), so that they can be used by others to empirically investigate questions related to vocational education and economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Cathles, Alison, 2016. "New variables for vocational secondary schooling: Patterns around the world from 1950-2010," MERIT Working Papers 2016-002, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    • Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2016002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2016/wp2016-002.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hanushek, Eric A. & Schwerdt, Guido & Wiederhold, Simon & Woessmann, Ludger, 2015. "Returns to skills around the world: Evidence from PIAAC," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 103-130.
    2. Anonymous, 1950. "United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(2), pages 326-327, May.
    3. Anonymous, 1950. "United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(3), pages 497-500, August.
    4. Jérôme Vandenbussche & Philippe Aghion & Costas Meghir, 2006. "Growth, distance to frontier and composition of human capital," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 97-127, June.
    5. Anonymous, 1969. "I. United Nations," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 971-989, October.
    6. Anonymous, 1950. "United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 682-683, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carlson, Beverley A., 2002. "Education and the labor market in Latin America: confronting globalization," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), August.
    2. Julian R. Betts & Magnus Lofstrom, 2000. "The Educational Attainment of Immigrants: Trends and Implications," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in the Economics of Immigration, pages 51-116, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Frank, Reanne, 2007. "What to make of it? The (Re)emergence of a biological conceptualization of race in health disparities research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(10), pages 1977-1983, May.
    4. Altinok, Nadir & Aydemir, Abdurrahman, 2017. "Does one size fit all? The impact of cognitive skills on economic growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 176-190.
    5. Lisa Grazzini, 2016. "The Importance of the Quality of Education: Some Determinants and its Effects on Earning Returns and Economic Growth," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(2), pages 43-82.
    6. Tommaso AGASISTI & Geraint JOHNES & Marco PACCAGNELLA, 2021. "Tasks, occupations and wages in OECD countries," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 160(1), pages 85-112, March.
    7. Luca Marchiori & I-Ling Shen & Frédéric Docquier, 2013. "Brain Drain In Globalization: A General Equilibrium Analysis From The Sending Countries' Perspective," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(2), pages 1582-1602, April.
    8. Clarke, Andrew & Skuterud, Mikal, 2014. "Immigrant Skill Selection and Utilization: A Comparative Analysis of Australia, Canada, and the United States," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2014-41, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 22 Sep 2014.
    9. Elizabeth Bartholet, 2011. "Ratification by the United States of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Pros and Cons from a Child’s Rights Perspective," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 633(1), pages 80-101, January.
    10. Roger R. Betancourt, 1969. "R. A. EASTERLIN. Population, Labor Force, and Long Swings in Economic Growth: The American Experience. Pp. xx, 298. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research (Distributed by Columbia University P," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 384(1), pages 183-192, July.
    11. Kui-Wai Li & Tung Liu & Lihong Yun, 2007. "Technology Progress, Efficiency, and Scale of Economy in Post-reform China," Working Papers 200701, Ball State University, Department of Economics, revised Apr 2007.
    12. Castelló-Climent, Amparo & Mukhopadhyay, Abhiroop, 2013. "Mass education or a minority well educated elite in the process of growth: The case of India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 303-320.
    13. Jakob B. Madsen* & Md. Rabiul Islam, 2012. "The Anatomy of the Asian Take-off," Institutions and Economies (formerly known as International Journal of Institutions and Economies), Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, vol. 4(2), pages 1-24, July.
    14. Alireza Naghavi & Chiara Strozzi, 2011. "Intellectual Property Rights, Migration, and Diaspora," Working Papers 2011.60, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    15. Gregorio Gimenez & Luis Vargas-Montoya, 2021. "ICT Use and Successful Learning: The Role of the Stock of Human Capital," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(14), pages 1-15, July.
    16. Yao Zhao & Xuena Kong & Mahmood Ahmad & Zahoor Ahmed, 2023. "Digital Economy, Industrial Structure, and Environmental Quality: Assessing the Roles of Educational Investment, Green Innovation, and Economic Globalization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-24, January.
    17. Marattin, Luigi & Marzo, Massimiliano & Zagaglia, Paolo, 2013. "Distortionary tax instruments and implementable monetary policy," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 219-243.
    18. V. Vandenberghe, 2018. "The Contribution of Educated Workers to Firms’ Efficiency Gains: The Key Role of Proximity to the ‘Local’ Frontier," De Economist, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 259-283, September.
    19. Asadullah, M. Niaz & Xiao, Saizi, 2020. "The changing pattern of wage returns to education in post-reform China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 137-148.
    20. Jørn Rattsø & Hildegunn E. Stokke, 2011. "Accumulation of education and regional income growth: Limited human capital effects in Norway," Working Paper Series 11211, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Vocational Education; Education and Economic Development; Human Capital; Skills; Skill formation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2016002. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ad Notten (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/meritnl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.