Published in:
Nordic Economic Policy Review 2014 1 pp. 51-73.
DOI:10.6027/US2014-416
Abstract:
We study the effect of entering the labor market in good times as opposed to bad times: to what degree may education dampen short and long term negative labor markets effects of finishing school in a recession? We focus on vocational training, which has been underdeveloped in many countries with high youth unemployment, but also assess the outcomes for those without a completed high school degree, those with only an academic high school degree, and those with college. We measure how these four educational groups fare in terms of labor market outcomes. Across most outcomes such as earnings, probability of a full time job and tenure length, those with vocational training are the closest to the college educated in terms of early career experiences.