TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Martins, Pedro S.
AU  - Silva, Pedro Luís
AU  - Temudo, Madalena
AU  - Pinho, Ana
        TI  - The Employment–Education Trade-off in School-Based Vocational Education: Evidence from Peers’ Choices
        PY  - 2026/Aug/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18884
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18884
        AB  - Vocational education and training (VET) may accelerate employment transitions at the cost of reducing further education participation. We quantify this trade-off in a school-based VET system, drawing on linked administrative and survey data in Portugal. We use the share of lower-secondary classmates who subsequently choose upper-secondary VET as an instrument for individual VET enrollment. We find a pronounced trade-off in early post-school transitions: vocational enrollment increases employment by 26-34 percentage points and improves several job quality indicators; however, VET reduces further education participation by 30-40 percentage points and is associated with higher unemployment.
        KW  - school-to-work transition
KW  - peer choices
KW  - school-based vocational education
KW  - NEET
KW  - job quality
        ER  -