Labour market consequences of a high school diploma |
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Authors: | Deni Mazrekaj Kristof De Witte Sarah Vansteenkiste |
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Institution: | 1. Leuven Economics of Education Research (LEER), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgiumdeni.mazrekaj@kuleuven.be;3. Leuven Economics of Education Research (LEER), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium;4. Top Institute for Evidence Based Education Research (TIER), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands;5. Centre of Expertise for Labour Market Monitoring (CELM), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium |
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Abstract: | This article compares the labour market outcomes of high school dropouts to high school graduates who did not enrol into higher education, but immediately entered the labour market. Using parental educational background as an instrument on a rich administrative dataset in the Flemish Region of Belgium, we find no returns to a high school diploma on average. However, these results hide considerable heterogeneity by gender and educational track. While females and individuals in vocational education may benefit from a diploma, male graduates and students holding a general education diploma may even be worse off on the labour market than dropouts. We show that sectoral heterogeneity acts as an underlying mechanism in the returns to a high school diploma. |
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Keywords: | Returns to schooling heterogeneity high school diploma school dropout instrumental variables |
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