Abstract
Abstract This paper describes the results from an evaluation of a public policy that offers scholarships to current and former public high school students, so that they can attend technical and vocational education courses free of charge. We use a waiting list randomized controlled trial in four municipalities in a southern Brazilian State (Santa Catarina) to quantify the effects of the program on school progression, labor market outcomes and non-cognitive skills. Our intention-to-treat estimates reveal substantial gender heterogeneity two years after program completion. Women experienced large gains in labor market outcomes and non-cognitive skills. Employment rose by 21 percentage points (or approximately 33%) and the gains in earnings are of more than 50%. Also, women who received the offer scored 0.5σ higher on the synthetic index of non-cognitive skills and 0.69σ higher on an extraversion indicator. We find no effects on the male sub-sample. These findings corroborate the evidence on gender heterogeneity in the labor market effects of technical and vocational education programs. We also perform a series of exercises to explore potential channels through which these effects arise.
Highlights
The fact that people might exit the educational system with low skill levels is a central policy concern because skills are seen as important determinants of labor market attachment, wages, and, crime [Bertrand et al, 2017]
This paper addresses some of these questions and enlarges the dimensions considered in the previous literature using a technical and vocational education and training (TVET) program targeted at current and former high school students of the public educational system in Brazil, which is attended mostly by low income students
The gender heterogeneity we find on labor market outcomes has been pointed out in systematic reviews about technical and vocational education in developing countries [Blattman and Ralston, 2015] and other active labor market policies in general [Bergemann and Van den Berg, 2008, Card et al, 2010, Card et al, 2015, Caliendo and Kunn, 2015] To our knowledge, [Alzúa et al, 2013] describe the only intervention where gender differences point to another direction, documenting that the Argentinian program “entra21” in Córdoba had positive and significant impacts on formal employment and earnings of men approximately 2 years after course completion, but not for women
Summary
The fact that people might exit the educational system with low skill levels is a central policy concern because skills are seen as important determinants of labor market attachment, wages, and, crime [Bertrand et al, 2017]. The gender heterogeneity we find on labor market outcomes has been pointed out in systematic reviews about technical and vocational education in developing countries [Blattman and Ralston, 2015] and other active labor market policies in general [Bergemann and Van den Berg, 2008, Card et al, 2010, Card et al, 2015, Caliendo and Kunn, 2015] To our knowledge, [Alzúa et al, 2013] describe the only intervention where gender differences point to another direction, documenting that the Argentinian program “entra21” in Córdoba had positive and significant impacts on formal employment and earnings of men approximately 2 years after course completion, but not for women.
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