Education pays off, but you have to be patient

 Nokor Khmer, Nov. 6, 2020

In August 2020, the International Labour Organization released an article that summarized the finding of Spotlight on Work Statistics.  Its conclusion cited below:

 The impact of workers’ level of educational attainment on their labour market outcomes depends on the country’s stage of development and level of income, which determine the characteristics of the local labour market and the type of job opportunities available.

In high-income countries, the level of sophistication of the economy and the labour market is such that skilled jobs abound, at least in comparison to unskilled jobs. Therefore, workers with a basic or less than basic educational level struggle to find jobs for which they would qualify. Indeed, in most high-income countries with data, the unemployment rate is higher for workers who have not completed upper-secondary education than for workers with an advanced educational level.

Economies in low-income countries, on the other hand, tend to be more agrarian in nature. The other predominant economic activities, aside from agriculture, are typically manufacturing and trade. Thus, in low-income countries, skilled jobs are not abundant, given the configuration of the economy. This is why workers with an advanced education in low-income countries often find it difficult to secure jobs matching their skills and are frequently concentrated in the public sector. Indeed, in low-income countries, workers with a tertiary degree have in general higher unemployment rates than workers who have not completed upper-secondary education.

However, this is compensated in terms of job quality once they do find a job: generally speaking, workers with an advanced educational level earn more and are more likely to be in paid employment, to have a formal job, and to have sufficient working time than workers with the lowest levels of educational attainment. This is true in low-income and high-income countries alike.

Nonetheless, it is necessary to highlight that correlation does not imply causation. In general terms, the higher a worker’s educational level, the better their working conditions (especially in terms of status in employment, formality, working time and earnings). But this does not necessarily mean that it is solely the advanced educational level of highly educated workers which leads to their improved working conditions. There may be other factors at play, and there may be common factors driving both workers’ educational level and their employment quality. In other words, it may not only be education driving labour market outcomes, but there may be conditions favourable for people to both pursue higher education and get quality jobs.

To download full brief: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---stat/documents/publication/wcms_733783.pdf

Article in full: https://ilostat.ilo.org/education-pays-off-but-you-have-to-be-patient/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=education-pays-off-but-you-have-to-be-patient 

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