School absences can negatively impact a child's schooling, including the loss of teacher-led lessons, peer interactions, and, ultimately, academic achievement. However, little is known about the long-term consequences of school absences for overall educational attainment and labour market outcomes. In this paper, we used data from the 1970 British…

Informal trading in the town of Bindura, Zimbabwe is a competitive venture just like in other parts of the world. The competitiveness is characterized by young traders aged 18 to 24 years being elbowed out by those established in the business, hence, the study sought to interrogate the experiences of young informal traders. Employing a qualitative…

This study seeks to investigate the association between distinct tracks of secondary education--namely, vocational school (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan, SMK) and general school (Sekolah Menengah Atas, SMA)--and two key labor market outcomes: the duration required for graduates to attain their initial employment and their resilience in the face of…

Using longitudinal data of college graduates in Colombia, we estimate labor market returns to postsecondary degrees and to various skills--including literacy, numeracy, foreign language, and field-specific skills. Graduates of academic programs and schools of higher reputation obtain higher earnings relative to vocational public programs. A one…

Reverse transfer associate degrees are credentials retroactively awarded to current bachelor's degree seekers, combining four-year credits with credits previously earned at a community college. Using administrative data from Tennessee, we use a difference-in-difference design to compare students before and after receipt of a reverse transfer…

Reverse transfer associate degrees are credentials retroactively awarded to current bachelor's degree seekers, combining four-year credits with credits previously earned at a community college. Using administrative data from Tennessee, we use a difference-in-difference design to compare students before and after receipt of a reverse transfer…

Purpose: Indian government initiated several skill development policies and different types of vocational education and training (VET). Yet the participation in skill education is low because of poor labour market outcomes. This paper aims to calculate returns to skill education to understand the type of training that will have better labour…

In high-income countries in recent years, the non-academic labour market destination of PhD-holders, i.e., the segmentation by industry sector of destination, has emerged as an issue. Universities and other research-intensive institutions can no longer absorb the major share of PhD-holders. Their employment has become a matter of segmentation both…

One major criticism of Universal Basic Income is that unconditional cash transfers discourage recipients from working. Evidence to date has largely relied on targeted and/or conditional transfer programs. However, it is difficult to draw conclusions from such programs because universal transfers may induce a positive demand shock by distributing…

Graduate transitions and pathways do not naturally involve moving smoothly or sequentially from education into the world of work. Instead university graduates move through employment, entrepreneurship, unemployment and continued further education as they generate livelihoods. For African universities to be student-centred, with a focus on student…

Correctional education is a prevalent form of rehabilitation programming for prisoners in the United States. There is limited evidence, however, about the labor market returns to credentials received while incarcerated. Using incarceration, educational, and labor market data in Washington State, we study the labor market returns to GEDs and…

This dissertation includes three essays on the economics of higher education. In the first chapter, I study the effects of college transfer. Over one-third of college students in the United States transfer between institutions, yet little is known about how transferring affect students' educational and labor market outcomes. Using administrative…

This paper examines the bias arising from individuals' migration from administrative outcome data, with a focus on the labor market consequences of postsecondary education. We find that out-of-state migration is particularly problematic for high-earners, flagship graduates, and certain majors. Consequently, the effect of graduating from a flagship…

I study the effect of higher education on lifecycle earnings and focus on three ways in which education may help drive earnings: the effect of higher education on one's skills, the effect on one's ability to accumulate new skills in the future, and the relationship between education and one's likelihood of unemployment. In the first chapter, I…

Purpose: This study aims to explore a specific case of the alleged mismatch between higher education and employability by investigating long-term work life outcomes for graduates from a small university college in Sweden, and the associations between these outcomes and the graduates' social background, academic achievements and study approach in…