tion of this group is dropped from the sample as they continued to higher edu-
cation; 809 females (44 per cent) and 630 males (56 per cent). In section 5.2 of
the empirical section, results from separate estimations are reported concerning
these individuals.
In general, it is not possible to distinguish individuals enrolled at komvux as
part of a labour market program. However, from the autumn of 1997, it is pos-
sible to see whether participants received the special grant UBS. Almost 84 per
cent of those with UBS were unemployed before enrolling in AE (SOU
1998:51). This could therefore be used as a proxy variable to indicate enrol-
ment as unemployed. In the present sample of AE participants, 16 per cent of
the men and 25 per cent of the women received UBS at some stage. As one
would expect, in consequence of their more generous financial study support,
the number of credits is positively related to the percentages with UBS. In the
groups with more than 500 credits, the share of UBS grant individuals is above
50 per cent.
There is a wide variety of courses at komvux, but traditional subjects still at-
tract the majority of the students. Swedish, English and Mathematics, often re-
ferred to as “the core subjects”, are among the more popular ones. The median
number of courses is thirteen for those with a prior compulsory level, ten if
two-year upper secondary level and six if three-year upper secondary level. The
fractions that pass the various courses vary for different subjects but are mostly
above 75 per cent. There are tendencies for these fractions to be positively re-
lated to prior education and to be higher among women. Gender patterns also
persist in that health, nursing and the behavioural sciences are more popular
among females while vocational courses are more frequent among males.
Those who received the UBS had higher than average participation rates in all
subjects except human sciences. In particular, 78 per cent were enrolled in
computer science as the boom in the IT-sector was at its peak when the AEI
was introduced in 1997-1999.
Figure 3 (males) and Figure 4 (females) provide a comparison between the
annual wage earnings trajectories of AE participants and non-participants with
a two-year upper secondary school. The AE participants are conditioned to be
registered for the first time in the autumn of 1997 and for the last time not later
than the spring of 1999. Choosing this window provides us with a large number
of AE participants and it also permits us to set up a separate trajectory for indi-
viduals with the UBS grant. As expected, this latter group has an overall low
pre-AE earnings level. Participants without UBS have higher earnings both
IFAU - Does adult education at upper secondary level influence annual wage earnings?
17