Wage effects of an extra year of basic vocational education

Until 1975 around half of all graduates from Dutch basic vocational schools finished a 3-years program, the other half finished a 4-years program. In 1975 all 3-years programs were extended to four years. This was accompanied by an increase of the compulsory school leaving age with one year. We evaluate the long-term wage effects of this extra year of basic vocational education using a difference-in-differences approach. The control group consists of graduates from basic vocational programs that did not change in length. We find no beneficial effect from the change. This result suggests that the target group of this policy gains equally from an extra year in vocational school as from an extra year of work experience. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.