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Meet the need – the role of vocational education and training for the youth labour market

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  • Thomas Bolli
  • Maria Esther Oswald‐Egg
  • Ladina Rageth

Abstract

To combat negative trends in the youth labour market, policymakers around the world support vocational education and training (VET) programmes. This paper investigates how enrolment rates in upper‐secondary education programmes – general education, school‐based VET and dual VET – affect ten youth labour market indicators on integration and job quality. We run first‐difference generalized method of moments regressions on panel data of 36 countries for 2004 through 2014. We complement the existing literature by dealing with unobserved heterogeneity across time and reverse causality and by analysing non‐linear effects that might arise due to general equilibrium effects. Our findings show that school‐based VET and dual VET have different effects: school‐based VET's effect on the labour market depends on the outcome indicator and country, whereas dual VET overall improves both labour market integration and job quality. Depending on the labour market indicator, we find evidence for both linear and non‐linear effects. In educational reforms, policymakers should therefore consider the non‐linear and heterogeneous effects of VET.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Bolli & Maria Esther Oswald‐Egg & Ladina Rageth, 2021. "Meet the need – the role of vocational education and training for the youth labour market," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 321-348, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:74:y:2021:i:3:p:321-348
    DOI: 10.1111/kykl.12269
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    Cited by:

    1. Bernd-Joachim Ertelt & Andreas Frey & Melanie Hochmuth & Jean-Jacques Ruppert & Silke Seyffer, 2021. "Apprenticeships as a Unique Shaping Field for the Development of an Individual Future-Oriented “Vocationality”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-14, February.
    2. Bolli, Thomas & McDonald, Patrick & Renold, Ursula, 2025. "Labor market effects of a dual-VET apprenticeship: Evidence from Nepal," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    3. Alka Obadić & Viktor Viljevac, 2023. "Labour market tightness and matching efficiency in different labour market segments – do differences in education and occupation matter?," EFZG Working Papers Series 2303, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb.
    4. Katherine Caves & Severin Baumann, 2018. "Getting there from here: A literature review of VET reform implementation," KOF Working papers 18-441, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.

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