Earnings and employment benefits of adult higher education in comparative perspective: evidence based on the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC)
Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: This paper compares across OECD countries the earnings and labor force status differentials of adults who completed their Higher Education (HE) degree within and beyond the normative age that is typically associated with the qualification attained.Much formal education activity is now undertaken by adults over the age of 25 or returning youths who are not in their initial cycle of studies.Adult Higher Education (AHE) defined in this way is an established phenomenon in many countries.Moreover, qualifications and formal education are increasingly a function of well-developed Adult Learning Systems.Yet, while AHE is growing in some countries it is being discouraged in others and ill understood.Past adult education activity that has led to an individual's highest level of qualification is often ignored, yet understanding these activities and their potential role in skill development is crucial for education and labor market policy.A related issue that magnifies the problem is that highest qualifications is typically associated with initial formal education, but increasingly this is not case.In fact, the extent to which learning opportunities are extended to adults and the extent to which this seamlessly feeds into qualification measures may reflect critical structural and policy differences across countries that are essential for understanding better variations in adult skill profiles and also labor market success.Data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), which is a 23 country comparative study of adult learning and skills, enables a closer look at this phenomena using an international comparative lens.The analysis focuses on the incidence of AHE and statistical differentials in labor market outcomes associated with the completion of qualifications within vs beyond the normative age.Findings suggest that HE qualifications promote labor market attachment, productivity and overall employment, regardless of whether adults completed their HE qualification within or beyond the normative age, and that there is no systematic pattern in the differentials of the two types of students across countries.
Authors: Richard Desjardins, Jin Hyuck Lee
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: U.S. Department of Education
OpenAlex ID: W2552070691