Abstract:
This paper investigates the economic (i.e. labour market) outcomes of ‘training’ for
individuals in Pakistan. The labour market benefits of general education have been
relatively well explored in the literature and specifically in Pakistan. They point to the
benefits of education accruing both from education/skills promoting a person’s entry into
the more lucrative occupations and by raising earnings within any given occupation. This
research delves into another angle by investigating the role, if any, of acquiring ‘training’ –
technical/vocational, apprenticeship or on-the-job - to look at both these channels of effect
onto economic well-being. This is done using data from a unique purpose-designed survey
of more than 1000 households in Pakistan, collected in 2007. Multinomial Logit estimates
of occupational attainment reveal how having undertaken training determines occupational
choice. In addition, we also estimate the returns to schooling and to training. This is done
separately for men and women. The results reveal that while acquiring training significantly
improves women’s chances of entering self-employment and wage work (also the more
‘lucrative’ occupations), only wage-working women benefit from improved earnings
through vocational schooling.
