The value of informal learning within work-based learning: The economic benefits of WBL

Recent updates to federal policy governing career and technical education (CTE) in the United States have emphasised the need to include work-based learning (WBL) experiences as central components of CTE programming. Many of these experiences showcase an informal learning component which has strong ties to early career success as suggested by the Human Capital Theory. This study explores the following questions: What is the relationship between WBL and early career income? Are there differential relationships based on the type of WBL experience? The Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS) includes nationally representative data for student participation in WBL and early career income. We used school-fixed effects and propensity score matching techniques to respond to our questions regarding the potential relationship between WBL participation and early career income. We found that students who participated in at least one WBL experience in high school could expect to have an average 7% higher income compared to non-WBL participants. With respect to specific WBL experiences, job shadowing, community service, and mentoring had the largest positive relationship to higher early career income. Findings from this study indicate that participation in WBL experiences can have a positive impact on a high school graduate's college and career readiness as measured through early career income. Given the differential relationships observed for different types of WBL, schools, policymakers, and students should explore WBL options that best align with their personal goals.     

Access to paved roads,gender, and youth unemployment in rural areas: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa

The poor development of road infrastructure is one of the main obstacles to economic activity and therefore to employment in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using cross-sectional data from 31 SSA countries, this study examines, from a gender perspective, the effect of access to paved roads on youth unemployment in rural areas in the region. The seemingly unrelated bivariate probit framework has been adopted in analysing the data. This approach is used for addressing the possible endogeneity bias that occurs when the dependent variable and regressor are both endogenous and binary. The major finding of this study reveals that access to paved roads in rural areas reduces the probability that young people will face unemployment. The aforementioned is more pronounced for young women than for young men. Moreover, the greater the proximity to the road increases, the greater its reducing effect on the probability of young people being unemployed. It is therefore important that the development of road infrastructure in rural areas be at the centre of public policies to address youth unemployment in SSA countries. This will significantly increase women's empowerment, through their participation in the labour market, and the full economic participation of young people.