Neuchâtel, October 20th 2008 Leading House « Economics of education » « Transitions, skills and labour market » Neuchâtel, October 20 th - Leading House

Neuchâtel, October 20th 2008

Leading House « Economics of education »

« Transitions, skills and labour market »

Neuchâtel, October 20th - Leading House congress 2008

Jean-Marc Falter – Yves Flückiger

University of Geneva


Introduction Taking a labour market perspective, our Leading

House endeavours to analyze the determinants and the impact of vocational education in Switzerland

We cover three research themes: Transitions from school toward the labour market Workers’ skills Firms behaviour with respect to vocational

education and lifelong training


1. Research and network Leading House: people and institutions University of Geneva• Prof. Yves Flückiger: Director• Prof. Siegfried Hanhart• Dr. Jean-Marc Falter Geneva School of Business Administration• Prof. José Ramirez• Dr. Muriel Meunier


1. Research and network International network: tender offer• Primary goal: undertaking international

comparison on the transitions from upper secondary education to the labour market

• Other objectives: co-operation and co-written articles, workshops, exchange of doctoral students, intellectual spillovers.


1. Research and network International network: selected teams Prof. Christian Belzil (Ecole polytechnique,

France)• Studies on France and Germany• Originality of the research:

• France: unique database, high quality econometric model than can also be applied Swiss data

• Germany: the impact of risk on track choices Institute of education (University of London)

• Studies on the United Kingdom• Unique database with ability variables and comparison

between full-time and dual vocational education


1. Research and network Research network: partners Prof. Jacques Silber, Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv Prof. Saïd Hanchane, GREQAM, Université d’Aix-

Marseille Prof. Claude Montmarquette, Cirano, University

of Montreal Contacts, joint projects, expertise


2. Young researchers Current and past doctoral students Muriel Meunier (post-doc) : School efficiency in

Switzerland Cyril Pasche: Skills and the labour market Sylvain Weber: Human capital depreciation Helga Unterlechner: Firms’ behaviour to lifelong learning Other young researchers (not yet in a doctoral

program) Kirsten Sobeck: research assistance, “transitions” project Nicolas Müeller: transitions


2. Promotions of young researchers Support given to young researchers

• Stimulating research and teaching environment• Contacts with top researchers around the world• Practical and financial support for data

collection• Financial help to present their work in

international conferences• Post-doctoral positions


Probability of having a « good » level of basic skills (literacy and numeracy) by age and initial education (ALL)

Sources: Falter et Pasche (2007), Compétences, formation et marché du travail en Suisse, OFS.

0

.1

.2

.3

.4

20 30 40 50 60 70Age

Prof. initiale Prof. supérieureGén. sec. II Haute école

3. Research and pioneering resultsA. Research question: skills for life?


3. Research and pioneering resultsA. Human capital depreciation: is vocational

education too specific? The link between education and human capital is not

well established Which kind of workers face the greatest risks of

human capital depreciation on the labour market? Education has often been measured in years instead

of level We show that this approach is not satisfactory in the

Swiss case: the type of education matters more than its length


3. Research and pioneering resultsA. Human capital depreciation: is vocational

education too specific?

Comp

App

Prof

HSUpProf

ApUni

Uni

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

100000

110000

120000

Pre

dic

ted n

et in

com

e (

CH

F)

0 10 20 30 40 50

Experience (years)

Sources: Weber (2008), Estimating Human Capital Depreciation Rate : Some Evidence from Switzerland


3. Research and pioneering resultsB. School to work transitions: is vocational

education reducing inequality? Upper secondary school choices are driven by

various factors such as parental background and academic performances

Academic performances seem to be a poor indicator of track choices

Parental background are still an important factor shaping educational choices at age 15: what are the impact of intergenerational factors on inequality?


3. Research and pioneering results

0.0

02

.004

.006

0 200 400 600 800 1000

Vocational

College bound

Pisa test scores, by educational choices

Sources: TREE, kernel estimates


3. Research and pioneering results


3. Research and pioneering resultsB. School to work transitions: is vocational education

reducing inequality? Over time, the probability to choose vocational

education has remained stable, yet there is a shift in the population choosing this kind of education

Parental variables have a great impact on transitions to upper secondary education

Intergenerational factors are relatively independent from ability, especially for individuals with highly educated parents

Do these intergenerational effects shape educational and income inequality?


3. Research and pioneering resultsA. Transitions inside the schooling system and educational

inequality

Sources: Falter, Ferro Luzzi and Sbergami, 2008, “Intergenerational Links and Upper Secondary Track Choice : Pattern and Consequences”. Data: Swiss Household Panel


3. Research and pioneering resultsB. Transitions: summary of the findings

Parental background variables have a significant impact on transitions at age 15

However, possibility to pursue further education reduces the impact of parental background on educational inequality

The impact of parental background, through upper secondary education, on wages is relatively small in Switzerland compared to Germany

Current policies promoting tertiary vocational education seem to be effective at reducing inequalities


3. Research and pioneering resultsC. Economic policy importance of our findings

Further research is needed to make better sense of our results, for instance:

Wage profile of apprenticeship degree holder: disentangling between labour market behaviour, skill depreciation and human capital investment

Transitions: efficient sorting of individuals towards apprenticeship training?


4. Diffusion of the research We communicate our results through various

channels: Scientific community (internet, congress and

journals) Non-academic audience: conferences, practitioners Life-long training: organization of a round of

conferences on transitions (University of Geneva, 2008-2009)

Teaching of the economics of education (Master course, University of Geneva)

Medias


4. Diffusion of the research Potential for publications

Papers are in a normal reviewing process (conferences and peer-reviewed journal):

The focus on vocational education allows to better motivate paper on Switzerland

Data are not always competitive Tensions between academic goals and policy

oriented papers Both are important, but it requires different

publication strategies: Need to focus on policy oriented papers

summarizing the main results of the Leading House


5. Future prospects: transfer of knowledge Transfers of findings: the “experimental”

approach Transfer of findings relies mostly on the

diffusion of well-written policy oriented papers based on academic findings

An alternative approach could be to answer specific questions in an experimental framework:

Social experiment: impact of new policies (Geneva, “Prime aux formateurs”)

Behavioural experiment: students’ attitude (risk, effort, economic incentives)

IFFP could act as a partner as well as a principal


http://www.educationeconomics.unige.ch

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Neuchâtel, October 20th 2008 Leading House « Economics of education » « Transitions, skills and labour market » Neuchâtel, October 20 th - Leading House