Vocational Education and the Work Establishment of Youth

Abstract

This paper assesses the equity and work establishment effects of secondary vocational education for youth in general and for selected youth subgroups. We address four sets of questions:1 Relative to their preplacement abilities and preferences, are students misassigned to the alternative high school curricula? Does this misallocation have consequences for their postsecondary outcomes? Does the vocational curriculum organize high school resources so as to assure that students with particular abilities and postsecondary destinations are treated as clients of the school? Does it do so in ways that unduly segregate its enrollees socially and educationally from the rest of the student body? What work establishment payoffs might we expect from vocational education, given employer hiring and internal market behaviors? Are vocational education resources now organized to deliver these payoffs? What work establishment benefits might vocational education have for three youths subgroups with particular labor market problems: high school dropouts (effects on high school completion), non- college females (effects on occupational desegregation by sex), and noncollege blacks (effects on employment)?