Upper secondary curriculum options and labour market performance: Evidence from a graduates survey in greece

Abstract

This article presents empirical evidence on labour market performance of graduates of curriculum options in a diversified upper secondary education scheme, with emphasis on the benefit of choosing the vocational intensity of instruction. Such evidence, which was generated for the Greek education system, shows a generally high employment mismatch (68-85%), the largest mismatch attributed to graduates from an integrated comprehensive curriculum option and the smallest to graduates from the occupation specific curriculum option. On the other hand, the evidence shows that the vocational options benefit low achievers, who, because of them remain in school, acquire minimum employable skills and avoid long term unemployment. The evidence did not show differences in earnings relative to the type of curriculum completed, but it did show differences relative to gender (females had lower earnings) and relative to type of employment (i.e. self employment, civil servant, employer, etc.). © 2002 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.