The impact of technical and vocational training and its influence on labor market integration

In the debate on technical and vocational education and training (TVET), labor market integration is often measured as access to employment, although this does not always reflect the actual quality of the work obtained. This study aimed to synthesize and interpret qualitative evidence and mixed-methods studies with a qualitative component on how job quality is constructed and experienced in integration processes linked to graduates of TVET programs. A qualitative systematic review was conducted in SciELO, Dialnet, and Redalyc, selecting data based on relevance criteria and analyzing them using inductive thematic synthesis. The results show that direct evidence on graduates already employed is limited and fragmented, while the available sources allow for the consolidation of useful dimensions for analyzing job quality, such as dignity of work, objective and subjective precarity, stability and insecurity, and recognition and identity. The most relevant conclusion is that integration should not be evaluated solely by job placement, but rather as a process where job quality is central and requires direct and comparable qualitative evidence in TVET and TVET programs.