Vocational High School Graduate Wage Gap: The Role of Cognitive Skills and Firms

47 Pages Posted: 21 Jul 2018

See all articles by Joop Hartog

Joop Hartog

University of Amsterdam - Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB); Tinbergen Institute; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Pedro S. Raposo

Universidade Católica Portuguesa

Hugo Reis

Banco de Portugal

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Date Written: June 04, 2018

Abstract

Comparing cohorts born between 1951 and 1994, we document and interpret changes in the wage differential among graduates from secondary education with a vocational and a general curriculum. The wage gap initially increased and then decreased. We find that these changes cannot be attributed to simple compositional shifts in the economy, but instead relate to important changes in worker allocation to firms that are heterogeneous in wage policies: the demise of assortative matching between workers and firms that worked out favourably for vocational graduates.

Keywords: returns to education, vocational wage gap

JEL Classification: J310, I260

Suggested Citation

Hartog, Joop and Raposo, Pedro S. and Reis, Hugo, Vocational High School Graduate Wage Gap: The Role of Cognitive Skills and Firms (June 04, 2018). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 7075, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3212543 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3212543

Joop Hartog (Contact Author)

University of Amsterdam - Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) ( email )

Roetersstraat 11
Amsterdam, 1018 WB
Netherlands

Tinbergen Institute

Burg. Oudlaan 50
Rotterdam, 3062 PA
Netherlands

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Pedro S. Raposo

Universidade Católica Portuguesa ( email )

Lisbon
Portugal

Hugo Reis

Banco de Portugal ( email )

148, Rua do Comercio
Lisbon, P - 1101
Portugal

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