Working Paper: NBER ID: w23851
Authors: Daniel Kreisman; Kevin Stange
Abstract: Vocational education is a large part of the high school curriculum, yet we have little understanding of what drives vocational enrollment or whether these courses help or harm early careers. To address this we develop a framework for curriculum choice, taking into account ability and preferences for academic and vocational work. We test model predictions using detailed transcript and earnings information from the NLSY97. Our results are two-fold. First, students positively sort into vocational courses, suggesting the belief that low ability students are funneled into vocational coursework is unlikely true. Second, we find higher earnings among students taking more upper-level vocational courses – a nearly 2% wage premium for each additional year, yet we find no gain from introductory vocational courses. These results suggest (a) policies limiting students’ ability to take vocational courses may not be welfare enhancing, and (b) the benefits of vocational coursework accrue to those who focus on depth over breadth.
Keywords: Vocational Education; Career Tech Education; High School Curriculum; Labor Market Outcomes
JEL Codes: I21; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| vocational coursework (M53) | labor market outcomes (J48) |
| upper-level vocational courses (M53) | wages (J31) |
| introductory vocational courses (Y20) | wages (J31) |
| positive selection into vocational coursework (J24) | better labor market outcomes (J48) |
| depth of vocational coursework (M53) | labor market outcomes (J48) |