ERIC Number: EJ1159532
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Dec
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0141-8211
EISSN: N/A
Skill Achievement and Returns in Developing Countries: Evidence from Adult Skills Surveys
Chua, Kenn
European Journal of Education, v52 n4 p498-510 Dec 2017
Using novel adult skills surveys, this article analyses cross-country patterns in skill achievement and labour market returns, comparing the outcomes for a subset of developing countries with the results previously found for high-income economies. Apart from displaying lower average cognitive skills, developing countries also exhibit wider disparities in levels of skills by subgroups of educational attainment, gender, and parental education. Meanwhile, baseline estimates of returns to skills reveal that a one-standard deviation increase in literacy skills is associated with an earnings increase of 14.6% in developing countries, which is statistically indistinguishable from the average returns of 17.7 estimated for developed countries. Nonetheless, there is considerable heterogeneity in the returns across developing countries, with the lowest estimates found in Armenia and Ukraine at 2% (not statistically significant) and 6%, respectively, and the highest reported in Kenya at above 30%. Differences in the type of employment opportunities and the degree of employment selection in these labour markets are important determinants of the observed gap in returns. International comparisons of returns should take this into consideration.
Descriptors: Developing Nations, Foreign Countries, Adults, Skills, Surveys, Labor Market, Thinking Skills, Educational Attainment, Gender Differences, Parent Background, Adult Literacy, Employment Opportunities, Developed Nations
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Armenia; Ukraine; Kenya
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A