Participation in Adult Schooling and its Earnings Impact in Canada
by Xuelin Zhang and Boris Palameta
Business and Labour Market Analysis Division
Analytical Studies Branch research paper series, No. 276
Context
In Canada and other industrialized countries, many adult workers return
to school to obtain additional education. Among other things, the increase
in adult education and training is closely related to technological
progress. Another group of workers who return to school are those who
did not make sufficient human capital investments while they were young.
While economists have made enormous efforts to investigate the labour
market effects of education and training in general, few of these studies
have focused on the effects of adult schooling, particularly in Canada.
Objectives
This study asks the following questions: Who participates in adult
schooling? Does adult schooling benefit participants? Who benefits from
adult schooling and by how much, and who does not?
Findings
the study finds that young (17 to 34 years old) and single workers
were more likely than older (35 to 59 years old) and married and divorced
workers to participate in adult schooling and to obtain a post-secondary
certificate. Workers with less than a high school education who might
have the greatest need to increase their human capital investment were
less likely to participate in adult education than workers with high
school or more education.
The study shows that male workers who obtained a post-secondary certificate
while staying with the same employer generally registered higher wage
and earnings gains than their counterparts who did not go back to school,
regardless of age and initial level of education. On the other hand,
men who obtained a certificate and switched jobs generally realized
no significant return to their additional education, with the exception
of young men (17 to 34 years old) who would receive significant returns
to a certificate, whether they switched employer or stayed with the
same employer.
Obtaining a certificate generated significant wage and earnings returns
for older women (aged 35 to 59) who stayed with the same employer, and
significant wage returns for young women who switched employers.
Data sources: The data used come from the Survey
on Labour and Income Dynamics.
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