Does adult education at upper secondary level influence annual wage earnings?



To extend the analysis, a rudimentary check of the importance of the subjects
studied is made by conditioning on the sample of AE participants to have a
passing grade in a certain subject. It means that the samples are reduced, some-
times substantially, so this analysis is only made for those with a prior two-year
upper secondary school. Table 6 contains results from these regressions and
subjects that are traditionally seen as general human capital are not associated
with any significantly positive effects, except females with a passing grade in
“general subjects”. These are instead found for subjects that are more specific,
such as computer science and health related subjects. Significant and positive
effects are also found for behavioural sciences but this may be driven by its
rather broad definition which makes it three times as common with a passing
grade also in a health related subject. The results suggest that in the context of
lifelong learning, general human capital improvements do not have a monetary
payoff but is best thought of as preparatory for higher studies. It is possible that
general knowledge has a weaker payoff to individuals drawn from the lower
half of the income or productivity distribution.

Table 8 Payoff to AE participants with a prior two-year upper secondary school,
conditioning on passes in various subjects.

Dependent variable: log annual wage earnings 1990-2001.

Females

Males

S.E.

Nae

S.E.

Nae

Maths (M)

- .020     (.0188)

987     - .010

(.0200)

1,401

Swedish (S)

- .001      (.0200)

821     - .025

(.0195)

1,501

English (E)

.016     (.0190)

957     - .031

(.0198)

1,545

M S E

- .044 *    (.0237)

457     - .042

*    (.0236)

859

Natural sciences

- .002     (.0249)

616     - .018

(.0255)

863

Computer science

.030 *    (.0162)

1,095       .054

*** (.0157)

1,755

Behav. Sciences

.087 *** (.0288)

228      .158

*** (.0212)

638

Human sciences

.064 *    (.0366)

170     - .022

(.0338)

409

Health, nursing

.130 *** (.0311)

176       .136

*** (.0195)

768

General subjects

.005     (.0162)

1,312       .053

*** (.0148)

2,308

Vocational ______

- .008     (.0261)

345      .002

(.0346)

350

Note 1∙      “Significant at the 1 % level.

**at the 5 % level   *at the 10 % level.

Note II: Standard errors

within parentheses. NAE

report the number of AE participants.

IFAU - Does adult education at upper secondary level influence annual wage earnings?

31




More intriguing information

1. The name is absent
2. The name is absent
3. The effect of globalisation on industrial districts in Italy: evidence from the footwear sector
4. 101 Proposals to reform the Stability and Growth Pact. Why so many? A Survey
5. A simple enquiry on heterogeneous lending rates and lending behaviour
6. The name is absent
7. The migration of unskilled youth: Is there any wage gain?
8. The changing face of Chicago: demographic trends in the 1990s
9. Conditions for learning: partnerships for engaging secondary pupils with contemporary art.
10. 5th and 8th grade pupils’ and teachers’ perceptions of the relationships between teaching methods, classroom ethos, and positive affective attitudes towards learning mathematics in Japan