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Labour Market Outcomes and Skill Acquisition of High-School Dropouts

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  • Michele Campolieti
  • Tony Fang
  • Morley Gunderson

Abstract

We utilize an instrumental variable approach to analyse the effect that dropping out of high school has on 17 outcomes pertaining to wages, employment and subsequent skill acquisition for youths. Our analysis is based on the older cohort of the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) for 2003, an ideal data set because it contains a rich array of outcome measures and their observable determinants as well as variables for instrumenting the dropout indicator (based on a link to the 1999 data). Our analysis indicates that dropouts have poorer wage and employment outcomes, and they do not make up for their lack of education through additional skill acquisition and training. The analysis thereby suggests that policies to curb dropping out could have both desirable efficiency effects (high returns) as well as distributional effects (high returns to otherwise more disadvantaged groups) and potential social spillover affects.
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Suggested Citation

  • Michele Campolieti & Tony Fang & Morley Gunderson, 2010. "Labour Market Outcomes and Skill Acquisition of High-School Dropouts," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 39-52, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jlabre:v:31:y:2010:i:1:p:39-52
    DOI: 10.1007/s12122-009-9074-5
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    Cited by:

    1. Abrahamsen, Signe A. & Ginja, Rita & Riise, Julie, 2021. "School Health Programs: Education, Health, and Welfare Dependency of Young Adults," IZA Discussion Papers 14546, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. D. Mark Anderson & Claus C. Pörtner, 2014. "High School Dropouts and Sexually Transmitted Infections," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 81(1), pages 113-134, July.
    3. Chiara Mussida & Raffaella Patimo, 2021. "Women’s Family Care Responsibilities, Employment and Health: A Tale of Two Countries," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 489-507, September.
    4. Pierre Lefebvre & Philip Merrigan, 2010. "Labour Outcomes of Graduates and Dropouts of High School and Post-secondary Education: Evidence for Canadian 24- to 26-year-olds in 2005," Cahiers de recherche 1045, CIRPEE.
    5. Marcotte, Dave E., 2013. "High school dropout and teen childbearing," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 258-268.
    6. Hernæs, Øystein & Markussen, Simen & Røed, Knut, 2017. "Can welfare conditionality combat high school dropout?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 144-156.
    7. Chiara Mussida & Raffaella Patimo, 2018. "Women’s care responsibilities, employment and health: a two countries’ tale," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali dises141, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    8. Carvajal, Hernán, 2023. "Efectos de la suspensión de las aspersiones aéreas con glifosato sobre la deserción escolar en Colombia," Documentos CEDE 20307, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    9. Mussida, Chiara & Sciulli, Dario & Signorelli, Marcello, 2019. "Secondary school dropout and work outcomes in ten developing countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 547-567.
    10. Chiara Mussida & Dario Sciulli & Marcello Signorelli, 2016. "Early School Leaving and Work Outcomes in Developing Countries," Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia, Finanza e Statistica 26/2016, Università di Perugia, Dipartimento Economia.
    11. Kristine Simson, 2015. "Explaining upper secondary school dropout: new evidence on the role of local labor markets," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1419-1444, June.
    12. Hazal Colak Oz & Çiçek Güven & Gonzalo Nápoles, 2023. "School dropout prediction and feature importance exploration in Malawi using household panel data: machine learning approach," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 245-287, April.
    13. Emanuelle Bourbeau & Pierre Lefebvre & Philip Merrigan, 2011. "Provincial Returns to Education for 21 to 35 year-olds: Results from the 1991-2006 Canadian Analytic Censuses Files," Cahiers de recherche 1106, CIRPEE.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dropouts; Skill acquisition; Youth in transition survey; Youth employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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