Title: Influence of diverse upper secondary educational tracks on labour market outcomes in Thailand

Authors: Akkaya Senkrua

Addresses: Department of Economics, Faculty of Business, Economics and Communications, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand

Abstract: This research investigates the influence of diverse upper-secondary educational tracks: academic (AE) and vocational education (VE), on three labour-market outcomes: unemployment risk, monthly earnings, and below-average-income risk. The research used the 2011-2015 labour force survey data by the National Statistical Office of Thailand. The samples were upper-secondary graduates aged 15-60 years with complete parental education data. The probit result showed that individuals with tertiary-educated parents were more likely to pursue VE. After correcting for self-selection, the regression result indicated that VE was significantly positively correlated with the unemployment risk. More specifically, the unemployment risk was higher for VE graduates due to the emphasis of VE on specific work skills. The monthly earnings were significantly positively correlated with VE as the VE graduates earned a higher monthly income than the AE graduates. The below-average-income risk and VE were negatively correlated.

Keywords: academic education; vocational education; below-average-income risk; unemployment risk; monthly earnings; educational tracks; labour market outcomes; Thailand.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2019.097647

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2019 Vol.17 No.2, pp.127 - 139

Received: 14 Dec 2017
Accepted: 11 Feb 2018
Published online: 04 Feb 2019 *

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