May 2015

IZA DP No. 9079: Back to School? Labor-Market Returns to Vocational Postsecondary Education

published as "More Skilled, Better Paid: Labour-market Returns to Vocational Postsecondary Education" in: Oxford Economic Papers, 2018, 70 (2), 485-508

Outside the U.S., little is known about the labor-market returns to vocational (or polytechnic) postsecondary education. This paper focuses on the labor-market returns to polytechnic bachelor's degrees in Finland. Using detailed administrative data, we estimate person fixed effect models to study returns for individuals with labor-force attachment prior to polytechnic school enrollment. We find sizable earnings and employment impacts for polytechnic bachelor's degrees, although the returns vary by personal characteristics and field of study.