FROM SCHOOL TO WORK: DOES VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IMPROVE LABOUR MARKET OUTCOMES? AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF INDONESIA

Abstract

The Indonesian government has been introducing revitalisation programmes for vocational schools, particularly during the period 2007 and 2011. It has targeted 7 out of 10 senior-secondary schools to be vocational schools by 2025 through new establishment or conversion of established general schools into vocational schools. To evaluate the government policy on the expansion of vocational education, this paperanalyses the effects of enrolment in vocational senior-secondary schools on four labour market outcomes; namely, labour force participation, risk of unemployment, job formality, and income. Using a rich socioeconomic survey from the Indonesian Family Life Survey, we find that public vocational education provides better labour outcomes for females than public general schools. However, no such difference is found for males. Moreover, our results suggest that many vocational schools, especially private ones, performed poorly in terms of their graduate’s job formality and income.