Skills for the Future? A Life Cycle Perspective on Systems of Vocational Education and Training

2021/06/07 by Amanda Chuan, Christian Lyhne Ibsen · 1 voice · 2 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · Health Professions · #Labor market dynamics and wage inequality #Youth Education and Societal Dynamics #Employment and Welfare Studies

paper · doi:10.1177/00197939211015205

openalex publication_date 2021/06/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/20

Abstract

In this article, the authors ask how the institutional design of vocational education and training (VET) affects worker adaptability to changing skill demands over the life cycle. They compare two types of VET systems. Collectivist systems have high employer involvement and focus on specific skills, whereas Statist systems have lower employer involvement and focus more on general skills. Based on prior research demonstrating the importance of general skills in learning new skills, the authors hypothesize that worker adaptability will be higher in Statist VET systems than in Collectivist VET systems. Using a triple-difference model on data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, they find that as age increases, a significantly steeper decline in worker adaptability occurs within Collectivist systems compared to Statist systems. Results provide an explanation behind the diminishing employment returns to employer-dominated VET systems found in prior studies.

Citations

• The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market*
• General Education, Vocational Education, and Labor-Market Outcomes over the Lifecycle
• Skill‐Biased Technological Change and Rising Wage Inequality: Some Problems and Puzzles

Cited by

• The Missing Link: Technological Change, Dual VET, and Social Policy Preferences
• Yesterday’s model for tomorrow’s economy? Dual VET and wage inequality in the knowledge economy

Discussions

• What role does #employer involvement play in workers' vocational training? Amanda Chuan and Christian Lyhne Ibsen show that as age increases, worker adaptability with #skills shows a steep decline in [bsky, 3 points, 0 comments]

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