How much does education matter and why?

This article explores the total (measured and unmeasured) effect of education on different socio-economic outcomes. The analysis shows that the usual regression models typically underestimate the effects of education. The effects of education are decomposed into three sources of variation: courses of study, schools and student composition. Schools do not seem to have a large impact. A significant part of the effect of education stems from differential selection of students into courses of study. However, there is a notable difference between social and economic rewards. Apart from level of education, selectivity and specificity of the course of study turn out to affect the labor market outcomeslabour market entry and occupational careers;

Increasing labor market instability among young people? Labor market entry and early career development among school-leavers in the Netherlands since the mid-1980s

"The aim of this paper is to study the consequences of increased labor market flexibility for young people at the beginning of their careers in the Netherlands since the mid-1980s. The emphasis is on school-leavers, since labor market entrants without any work experience are especially confronted with flexible employment in the competition for available jobs with those who have already gained a position in the labor market. The phase of labor market entry is investigated in terms of (permanent) employment opportunities and quality of work. Early career development is studied in terms of job loss and occupational status mobility. The OSA Labor Supply Panel is used for the empirical analysis. On the basis of this panel study, school-leavers have been selected who left daytime education in the period 1986-2002. The results indicate that in the Netherlands since the mid-1980s, labor market flexibility has been a successful weapon for combating youth unemployment in the sense that the opportunities for school-leavers to find a job have improved considerably, but - at the same time - it has resulted in a higher risk of having a job with a fixed-term contract, where the likelihood of overeducation and job loss is higher." (author's abstract

Do Low-Skilled Youngsters get Better Jobs in Countries where Internal Labour Markets Dominate?

In this paper, we analyse to what extent the quality of the jobs of low-skilled young workers is affected by the labour market structure in various European countries. We focus on the differences between countries in which internal labour markets (ILM) are prevalent and countries in which occupational labour markets (OLM) dominate. We expect that low-skilled young workers in OLM countries have no access to skilled jobs and therefore only find employment in the secondary segment of the labour market, whereas in ILM countries low-skilled young workers have opportunities to develop their skills in firm internal labour markets when they succeed in entering these markets in times that the economy is booming. The results of our empirical analysis show that low-skilled youngsters are indeed better off in ILM countries than in OLM countries, with respect to the permanency of a job, employment in non-elementary jobs as well as participation in continuing vocational training. However, in ILM countries low-skilled young workers are more often involuntary employed in part-time jobs than in OLM countries. With respect to the likelihood of employment in elementary jobs and participation in continuing vocational training the ILM versus OLM contrast is, as expected, larger in manufacturing, where internal labour markets more frequently occur, than in the service sector.education, training and the labour market;

How Much Does Education Matter and Why? The Effects of Education on Socio-economic Outcomes among School-leavers in the Netherlands

This article explores the total (measured and unmeasured) impact of education on some of the main socio-economic outcomes (that is, employment opportunities, job security and wages) among school-leavers who finished upper secondary or tertiary education in the Netherlands. The empirical analysis shows that the effects of education are typically underestimated in labour market research. Education has a large impact on all outcomes under investigation. Apart from level of education, the selectivity of the study programme turns out to affect socio-economic outcomes, although the effects of the latter educational characteristic are only significant in the private sector. Differences between schools do not have an impact on wages and job security, but they do to some extent affect employment opportunities.