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Fluctuations in the wage gap between vocational and general secondary education: lessons from Portugal

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Listed:
  • Joop Hartog

    (University of Amsterdam)

  • Pedro Raposo

    (Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics)

  • Hugo Reis

    (Banco de Portugal and Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics)

Abstract

We document and analyse the wage gap between vocational and general secondary education in Portugal between 1994 and 2013. As Portuguese workers have been educated in different school systems, we have to distinguish between birth cohorts. Analysing the wage gaps within cohorts, we find no support for either the human capital prediction of crossing wage profiles or the hypothesis that general graduates increasingly outperform vocational graduates in late career. We discover that the lifecycle wage profiles have shifted over time. We link the pattern of shifting cohort profiles to changes in the school system and in the structure of labour demand. We conclude that assessing the relative value of vocational education requires assessing how the vocational curriculum responds to changes in economic structure and technology. We show that the decline in assortative matching between workers and firms has benefited vocationally educated workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Joop Hartog & Pedro Raposo & Hugo Reis, 2022. "Fluctuations in the wage gap between vocational and general secondary education: lessons from Portugal," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(2), pages 643-675, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:35:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s00148-021-00846-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-021-00846-1
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    Cited by:

    1. Joop Hartog & Pedro Raposo & Hugo Reis, 2022. "Fluctuations in the wage gap between vocational and general secondary education: lessons from Portugal," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(2), pages 643-675, April.
    2. Yue Chen & Yuantao Jiang & Aibing Zheng & Yunzhu Yue & Zhi-Hua Hu, 2023. "What Research Should Vocational Education Colleges Conduct? An Empirical Study Using Data Envelopment Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-18, June.
    3. Irene Kriesi & Fabian Sander, 2024. "Academic or vocational education? A comparison of the long-term wage development of academic and vocational tertiary degree holders," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 58(1), pages 1-28, December.
    4. Dai, Li & Martins, Pedro S., 2024. "The Wage Effects of Polytechnic Degrees: Evidence from the 1999 China Higher Education Expansion," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1399, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Vocational wage gap; Worker-firm allocation; Human capital; Returns to education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education

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