Project 8: Education, Skills and Labour Market Outcomes

Contact:

	Dr Jo Blanden, University of Surrey and CEE Associate. (non-cognitive skills) Tel: +44(0)20 7852 3524 Email: j.blanden@lse.ac.uk
	Dr Barbara Sianesi, IFS and CEE Associate. (returns to education) Tel: +44(0)20 7852 3524 Email: barbara_s@ifs.org.uk
	Professor Peter Dolton, Royal Holloway UoL, CEP and CEE Associate. (gender) Tel:+44(0)1784 44 33 78 Email: peter.dolton@rhul.ac.uk

What are the links between education, skills and labour market outcomes?

We have looked not only at measures of cognitive skills but also at non-cognitive, soft skills. We find that these are also an important ingredient of both educational attainment and labour market success. Pedro Carneiro and colleagues have found that behavioural indicators in childhood are important for a range of later outcomes ranging from education and earnings to teenage motherhood and health. The significance of cognitive and social skills in childhood for determining later outcomes emphasises the importance of early interventions such as Sure Start and nursery education in helping children get the best start in life.

We will be pursuing further work on the relationship between non-cognitive skills such as patience, persistence and self-regulation and economic behaviour through our work in the Leibnitz non-cognitive network of economists and psychologists in Germany, London and Chicago

The relationship between childhood skills and social mobility is made even more explicit in a paper by Blanden, Gregg and Macmillan who show that differences in both early test scores of cognitive ability and measures of non-cognitive social skills can help to explain the intergenerational persistence between parental income and children’s later earnings.

Related Discussion Papers:

Which Skills Matter?
Pedro Carneiro, Claire Crawford, Alissa Goodman, July 2006
Paper No' CEEDP0059: | Full paper (free)

Accounting for Intergenerational Income Persistence: Non-Cognitive Skills, Ability and Education
Jo Blanden, Paul Gregg, Lindsey Macmillan, Lindsey Macmillan, September 2006
Paper No' CEEDP0073: Read Abstract | Full paper (free)

The Impact of Early Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills on Later Outcomes
Pedro Carneiro, Claire Crawford, Alissa Goodman, October 2007
Paper No' CEEDP0092: | Full paper (free)

At the turn of the 21st century 20% of adults sturuggled with basic literacy while 40% struggled with numeracy. Anna Vignoles, Marcenaro-Gutierrez and De Coulon have consider the earnings returns to basic skills in the British Labour market in 2004 and find them to be substantial compared to the rest of the world. Contrary to widely held views on returns to basic skills, the report finds that these have certainly not declined compared to an earlier survey in 1991. Instead the picture is one where basic skills are still highly valued, and therefore scarce commodities in the UK labour market.

Related Discussion Papers:

The Value of Basic Skills in the British Labour Market
Oscar Marcenaro Gutierrez, Anna Vignoles, Augustin de Coulon, May 2007
Paper No' CEEDP0077: Read Abstract | Full paper (free)

The Centre for Economics of Education has continued to examine the relationship between educational qualifications and labour market performance. Anna Vignoles and colleagues have updated the evidence on the returns to vocational qualifications, an essential exercise given the policy focus on lifelong learning and offering vocational alternatives at age 16. They find high wage (and more arguably employment) returns across a range of contexts for a number of level 2 and level 3 vocational qualifications, such as BTEC, City and Guilds and RSA, but smaller wage and less widespread returns to NVQs (and none for NVQ2). Arnaud Chevalier considers ‘over-education’ of university graduates, again an issue of essential policy importance given the 50% target for university achievement.

See Ammermüller, Andreas & Dolton, Peter J., 2006. "Pupil-teacher gender interaction effects on scholastic outcomes in England and the USA," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-60, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.

Related Discussion Papers:

The Long Term Impacts of Compulsory Schooling: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in School Leaving Dates
Emilia Del Bono, Fernando Galindo-Rueda, January 2007
Paper No' CEEDP0074: Read Abstract | Full paper (free)

Over-Education and the Skills of UK Graduates
Arnaud Chevalier, Joanne Lindley, August 2007
Paper No' CEEDP0079: Read Abstract | Full paper (free)

Returns to Apprenticeship Training in Austria: Evidence from Failed Firms
Josef Fersterer, Jörn-Steffen Pischke, February 2008
Paper No' CEEDP0088: Read Abstract | Full paper (free)

The Returns to Qualifications in England: Updating the Evidence Base on Level 2 and Level 3 Vocational Qualifications
Charley Greenwood, Andrew Jenkins, Anna Vignoles, September 2007
Paper No' CEEDP0089: | Full paper (free)