Does educational content respond to technological advances, enabling workers to acquire new expertise? We study how digital technology transforms skill acquisition and impacts workers' careers. We construct a novel database of legally binding vocational training curricula in Germany over 5...

The past 10 years have witnessed a flurry of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) that shed new light on the impact and cost-effectiveness of Active Labor Market Policies (ALMPs) that aim to improve workers’ access to new jobs and better wages. This paper presents the first systematic review of...

What are the economic returns to education in Australia? Using data from the 2018- 2022 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, and taking account of existing estimates of ability bias and social returns to schooling, I estimate the economic return to various...

We study how new digital technology reshapes vocational training and skill acquisition and its impact on workers’ careers. We construct a novel database of legally binding training curricula and changes therein, spanning the near universe of vocational training in Germany over five decades,...

What are the economic returns to education in Australia? Using data from the 2018-2022 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, and taking account of existing estimates of ability bias and social returns to schooling, I estimate the economic return to various...

Context: The digital transformation affects vocational schools and poses new requirements on teaching as well as on schools as an organization. For schools, the implementation of digital technologies in everyday school life is an innovation that entails a lengthy and complex process of change,...

Context: Extensive theory-based research on academic and vocational education has long explored the connections between emotions, motivation, and learning as drivers of behavioral change in occupational contexts. Emotions and motivations play a crucial role in shaping how individuals and...

Context: Vocational training has been a critical issue in China, where large percentages are regularly cited for unemployment statistics. In addition, Chinese higher vocational education and training (HVET) students are from relatively disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds and they are...

This paper presents first empirical evidence from the pilot phase of the Cedefop European Vocational Teacher Survey (EVTS), the first EU-wide survey examining experiences, working conditions and professional development of teachers in initial vocational education and training (IVET). Drawing on...

Energy exchange-traded funds (ETF) are innovative energy financial product that reflects the cyclical supply and demand of energy. This paper employs the TVP-VAR-DY model to examine the dynamic volatility spillover effects within the energy ETF market in response to EPU shocks, as well as to...

Most impact assessments of agricultural training evaluate one-time interventions over short time horizons. However, farmers may initially show enthusiasm for a new technology but subsequently dis-adopt it after a trial period, while others may adopt practices gradually over time. This study...

We explore how unexpected temporary increases in the demand for low-skill service jobs in the tourism industry impact educational choices in Italy. We identify exogenous variation in the demand for service jobs using positive shocks to the tourism industry caused by terrorist attacks in foreign...

Online instruction holds the promise of expanding access to education for disadvantaged groups, yet it often deepens existing performance gaps. This study examines its impact on highstakes exam outcomes, focusing on mechanisms driving differential effects for minority students. We leverage rich...

Context: Dual apprenticeships (DA) are a type of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) that emphasize the development of work skills through collaboration between the education sector and the labour market. DA are believed to facilitate smoother transitions to work for youth by...

Context: Azerbaijan's vocational education and training (VET) system has undergone a significant reform, culminating in the enactment of the Law on Vocational Education in 2018. Despite not being a member of the European Union (EU) and lacking formal political, economic, or cultural alignment...

This paper studies the long-term impacts of dual apprenticeships on youth employment in a high-informality labor market. A Randomized Controlled Trial in Côte d'Ivoire with four follow-up surveys collected over seven years shows that dual apprenticeships have sustained impacts: youth earnings...

Background: Recent research has increasingly explored instructional quality in shaping Vocational Education and Training (VET) outcomes. However, how instructional quality in company-based training influences vocational competence development remains unclear, particularly regarding its dynamic...

New digital and artificial intelligence technologies are fast reshaping skill requirements in the EU labour market, fostering skill mismatches. There are marked concerns about the potentially adverse consequences of automation and AI on employment, as well as the lagging competitiveness of EU...

At a time when European science and innovation policy is seeking to better support research talent in navigating increasingly diverse post-PhD careers, we suggest that skill requirements vary substantially across employment sectors. We examine PhD holders' self-perceived transferable skills to...

We examine whether restricting temporary contracts increases firms' investment in worker training, exploiting Spain's 2022 labour market reform. Using 3.1 million online job postings from 2018 to 2024, we implement a difference-in-differences design that leverages pre-reform variation in...

We examine whether restricting temporary contracts increases firms' investment in worker training, exploiting Spain's 2022 labour market reform. Using 3.1 million online job postings from 2018 to 2024, we implement a difference-in-differences design that leverages prereform variation in reliance...

We use population-level administrative data covering secondary school students in England to study how mathematical and verbal skills shape education and labour market outcomes. Following cohorts completing national exams at age 16 through higher education and into employment until age 34, we...

Whether targeted foundational instruction yields broad, long-term human capital gains is central to education policy but largely untested. We provide causal evidence from Zambia's government-run foundational skills program in public primary schools. After two years, a randomized trial shows the...

Purpose: In-company trainers are company employees who are responsible for planning and teaching vocational skills to young people. They also teach them about the company's values, thus fostering a sense of belonging and alignment with company goals. However, there is limited understanding of...

Context: VET programmes in most countries are organised as a combination of learning in schools and learning in workplaces, with elements of workplace learning ranging from a few hours of job shadowing to longer duration internships or full apprenticeships. While there is no doubt about the...

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this paper exploits within-sibling differences in vocational coursework credits taken during high school to estimate their effects on educational and labor market outcomes. I find that additional vocational course-work reduces...

Purpose: This study investigates how inclusive teaching practices and institutional support influence entrepreneurial intentions among disadvantaged students in technical vocational education and training (TVET), with persistence of effort as a mediating variable. Although persistence of effort...

In recent years, the topic of green transitions has attracted considerable attention. Notably, these transitions are often framed as a skills issue, reflecting perceived gaps in the technical skills required for green technologies. Moreover, skills are frequently presented as central to ensuring...

In today's world, characterised by rapid technological advances, particularly in AI, companies are compelled to acquire knowledge through employee training. This article seeks to empirically validate four hypotheses derived from a theoretical model identifying key factors firms should consider...

Context: The Fourth Industrial Revolution has accelerated the integration of automation technologies into the world of work, raising important questions about the future of Vocational Education and Training (VET). While existing literature has primarily focused on the labor market impacts of...

Purpose: Following the Great Recession and in response to EU pressures, Spain initiated processes to adopt or expand Dual VET, beginning with the approval of Royal Decree 1529/2012. This decree established the legal framework for Dual VET and granted Autonomous Communities the authority to...

We find a substantial and long-lasting positive effect of the introduction of regional minimum wages on training incidence and intensity. We apply a stacked difference-in-differences estimation to identify the dynamic effect of high minimum wages introduced in several Swiss cantons between 2018...

Irregular migration from West Africa to Europe across the Sahara and Mediterranean is extremely risky for migrants and a key policy concern. A cluster-randomized experiment with 3,641 young men from 391 settlements in The Gambia is used to test three approaches to reducing risky migration:...

The study aims to analyze the modalities of vocational training in rural areas in order to identify systematic contents that are relevant to define the perception of the general role of continuing vocational training in the economic and social development of rural areas, the functions of...

Based on a randomized controlled trial conducted on extremely poor youths in Nepal, we report the impact of a vocational training program that offered long-duration training combined with incentives for trainers tied to trainees' success. Furthermore, to mimic the practices in the field, a...

Firm training is key to meeting changing skill demands, yet little is known about the role of workers' beliefs in shaping training participation. In a survey of 3,701 workers in Germany, we document that they expect substantial returns to firm training - both in terms of earnings and...

The objective of this policy note is to provide an overview of the status of digital skills in Nigeria from a comparative perspective and understand how prepared educational institutions are to help develop the digital skills of the population. First, the note summarizes the status of access to...

Identifying sensitive periods in which the returns to investments into skills are especially high is challenging, but crucial for an effective and efficient timing of parental or public investments aimed at fostering children's skills. We can detect sensitive periods with a novel design by...

We analyze the impact of AI-augmented training on worker productivity in a financial services company. The company introduced an AI tool that provides performance feedback on call center agents to guide their training. To estimate causal effects, we exploit the staggered roll out of the AI-tool....

In response to the growing importance of vocational education for youth employability, this study examines students' perceptions of dual vocational education and training (dVET) in Bulgaria, focusing on the following determinants of student loyalty (SL) and word-of-mouth communication (WOM) in...