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There is general consensus that vocational education and training (VET) faces a number of workforce problems, including the ageing of VET teachers, the high level of casualisation, the need to increase the capacity of trainers, and the maintenance of industry currency. These issues, along with the need for the VET sector to respond to critical national workforce development requirements, have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Industry experts, who are highly knowledgeable and experienced in their sector, are an underutilised resource as VET practitioners. Their knowledge and experience can provide rich information on up-to-date workplace skill needs, thus adding value and quality to the VET sector. The continuing debate associated with the minimum qualifications for VET practitioners and flexibility in entry points to the VET profession indicates that further input into innovative and practical solutions is required. Through interviews and surveys with registered training organisations (RTOs) and VET practitioners, this report explores approaches to attracting industry experts to become and remain VET practitioners. Drawing on findings from the research, the authors provide strategies for consideration by government, industry, regulators, RTOs and VET practitioners that can help the journey from industry expert to VET practitioner be more rewarding and productive. [For the supporting literature review "Attracting Industry Experts to Become VET Practitioners: Literature Review -- Support Document," see ED615948.]

There is a lack of distinction and definition around how the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia might effectively recruit and retain suitably qualified teachers, trainers and assessors. The logic is clear: in order to enable and develop an immediate pool of competent and qualified workers for new and developing industries, as well as develop the skills and knowledge of workers in the stalwarts of Australian industry, such as the mining, building, finance and service industries, particular talented individuals are required. This is a requirement for a dynamic training environment that is also impacted by, for example, the internet of things, the diversity of learners and the consequences of an aging population. In order to make sense of the VET landscape and the demand for VET practitioners, the following literature review firstly provides a snapshot of the current state of the VET workforce and the changing industry climate in Australia. It then considers some of the factors that appear to be barriers or 'stumbling blocks' to recruiting teachers and trainers into vocational education and training. This is followed by examination of some of the incentives that have been adopted in other countries in an effort to boost their VET workforces, and exploration of other strategies that might help to increase the number of educators and to retain their services. [For the research report "Attracting Industry Experts to Become VET Practitioners: A Journey, Not a Destination. Research Report," see ED615947.]

Understanding the gender dynamics in educational transitions can help target policies to support equitable access to education as well as its quality and labour-market outcomes. In almost all OECD countries, the gender gap in favour of women is wider in tertiary education than at upper secondary level. Differences in programme orientation and girls' educational performance at school may give them greater access to tertiary education than boys. Changes in the courses on offer in higher education, and the social value of a university education for young women may also influence their choices. In addition, young women tend to gain more from a tertiary degree in the labour market than their male peers, both in terms of employment and earnings, which may make pursuing higher education more attractive.

Tailoring education policy to deliver the skills needed by modern labour markets is complicated by the rapid pace of technological change. These complications are amplified when the associated risks of technological redundancy and the lengthening working lifetimes are taken into account. At the heart of the challenge for policy-makers is allocating public funding in a way that improves the responsiveness of the sector to changing skill and labour market needs. This study adds to the existing evidence base on this issue by reporting on the effects of an Australian reform that introduced an entitlement for VET, whereby the availability of public funded VET courses was expanded and where its allocation was linked to student choice. This policy reform was part of the Australian Government's National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform, established in 2008 to enhance the VET sector's responsiveness to labour market needs. The key premises underlying the reforms were that expanding entitlements to public subsidies would increase participation in education and that, given greater freedom of choice, people would pursue skills in demand by employers. This study tests both of those premises by estimating the effects on enrollments of reforms introduced in the state of Victoria, known at the time this research was undertaken as the Victorian Training Guarantee (VTG). The findings from this study further underline the capacity of people, irrespective of their backgrounds, to make good course choices, given greater freedom to do so, at least as measured in this study. Appended are: (1) VET participation using the ABS Survey of Education and Work; (2) Course participation supplementary statistics; (3) Sensitivity tests; (4) Course choice supplementary statistics.

Many students do not complete full qualifications in the vocational education and training (VET) system because their intention is to obtain only the particular skills they require. This can be achieved through the acquisition of skill sets; these enable flexibility in training to quickly respond to changes in the labour market. Skill sets may also be more appealing to learners due to their relatively lower cost and shorter training duration. Despite the advantages of skill sets, it is clear from previous National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) research that VET students who complete a full qualification have better labour market outcomes than those who do not. Investigating partial completion allows consideration of the impact that completion of skill sets has on the returns to training. Building on the previous research, this particular report focuses on the value of completing a qualification in the trades. Using data from the 2013 Student Outcomes Survey, the research quantifies the benefits of completion of a full qualification relative to partial completion of a qualification. The report also identifies the trade occupations to which completion of a full qualification matters most. Key Messages include: (1) Completion of a full qualification in the trades on average leads to better employment outcomes than completion of modules only; (2) The wage gap between graduates and module completers is relatively small, with graduates estimated to annually earn 2.7% more than module completers; and (3) The returns to qualification completion vary greatly depending on the trade. Students who intend to study the trades should be encouraged to investigate the various types of trades and weigh up the possibilities and potential benefits to completing a full qualification. These findings emphasise the important role of career guidance for trade students while they are still engaged in the VET system. Appended are: (1) Propensity score regression; (2) Modelling results; and (3) Outcome estimates.

Differences in teacher quality are commonly cited as a key determinant of the huge international student performance gaps. However, convincing evidence on this relationship is still lacking, in part because it is unclear how to measure teacher quality consistently across countries. We use unique international assessment data to investigate the role of teacher cognitive skills as one main dimension of teacher quality in explaining student outcomes. Our main identification strategy exploits exogenous variation in teacher cognitive skills attributable to international differences in relative wages of nonteacher public sector employees. Using student-level test score data, we find that teacher cognitive skills are an important determinant of international differences in student performance. Results are supported by fixed-effects estimation that uses within-country between-subject variation in teacher skills.

Apprenticeships and traineeships are useful pathways for people with a disability to obtain a qualification and gain employment. Based on a three-year program of research, this report explores the barriers and facilitators of course completion reported by students with a disability who have completed an apprenticeship or traineeship. Formal and informal support was the greatest facilitator to completion, and lack of resources the major barrier. This included poor training wages, equipment costs and a lack of time, often due to family commitments. Appended are: (1) Subthemes in the barriers to course completion; and (2) Subthemes in the facilitators to course completion. (Contains 11 tables and 4 footnotes.)

Overskilling is the phenomenon whereby a worker's skills are underutilised in his or her job. Overskilled workers are employed, but they are underutilised and mismatched, in that their skills and abilities are not a good match with the requirements of the job. Overskilling can lead to decreased wages and job satisfaction, which suggests that the investment in skills for that individual has been somewhat wasted. Overskilling mismatch has been shown to be persistent; that is, present overskilling mismatch increases the probability of future overskilling mismatch. However, the previous research showing this extends back only one year. This report examines the persistence of mismatch over a longer (up to three years) time period and its effect on wages. An obvious explanation for the persistence of overskilling is that it reflects personal unobserved characteristics (such as the person having an inflated view of their own skills). This paper exploits longitudinal data to show that persistence is more than this, with the probability of being overskilled increasing if the individual has been overskilled in the previous period, after allowing for unobserved characteristics. Key findings include: (1) Overskilling is persistent: overskilling mismatch is common among those who have been overskilled in the past. Persistence varies by educational level, with its being lowest among university graduates and highest among VET diploma graduates and those who did not finish high school; and (2) The wages of university graduates are reduced by past overskilling, more so than for any other education level. A possible reason for the second finding is that graduates tend to be in better-paid jobs and therefore there is more at stake for them. This observation is supported by the results of quantile regressions, which differentiate the impact of overskilling by whether an individual is at the top or the bottom of the earnings distribution. With the exception of certificate III and IV graduates, workers who are better paid among their peers are more likely to suffer higher wage penalties from being overskilled. Appended are: (1) Definition of variables; and (2) Estimation of individuals' probability of being overskilled in their current job and the effect of state dependence. (Contains 15 tables, 6 figures, 1 box and 10 footnotes.)

Completion rates are an obvious performance indicator for the vocational education and training (VET) sector. Previously published figures indicated overall completion rates as low as 27%. One response to this is the argument that there are many students who do not need to complete their qualification as they acquire the skills they need without going through the entire curriculum of a qualification. For them, completion is not an issue. To throw further light on this issue this paper identifies groups of students for whom there is a clear benefit in completing their qualification. The authors use data from the 2009 Student Outcomes Survey to test whether completion is beneficial in relation to a number of predefined post-study outcomes. These are employment, further study, a combination of employment or further study, "improved" employment, occupational status and salary. The authors find that completion has an overall strong positive effect on these pay-off variables. However, the extent of the pay-off varies greatly across different groups of students. Appended are: (1) Model results; and (2) Tree diagrams. (Contains 15 figures, 9 tables and 10 footnotes.) [For the 2006 edition of the report, see ED495916.]

It is well established that workers with more years of education earn higher wages. By establishing a reference or "required" level of education for a worker's occupation, it is possible to decompose an individual's actual level of education into years of required education and years of over-education or under-education relative to that occupational norm. A richer picture of wage determination can be gained by substituting these three terms for actual education in the standard Mincer wage equation. Relative to the standard estimates of returns from years of actual education, international and Australian studies using this "ORU model" ("over"-education, "required" education, "under"-education) typically find larger returns from years of required education and modest returns from years of over-education. Workers benefit from being employed in an occupation for which they are under-educated, because the positive effect of being in an occupation with a higher reference level of education outweighs the negative effect of their years of under-education. This report shows how the ORU model can be used to inform consideration of the wage implications of credentialism, defined as an increase over time in the education standards for specific jobs and which is not necessary for the effective achievement of tasks across positions in the labour market. Data from the 2006 Census of Population and Housing are used to establish the required (mean) level of education in each of 46 two-digit occupations for a sample of employees from waves 1 to 8 of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. Both standard ordinary least squares (OLS) and panel data models show that the estimated return from years of required education exceeds the return from years of surplus education. This result is robust to the augmentation of the ORU model with variables for the occupation of employment, and to estimation on separate samples of males and females. The years of educational attainment attributable to credentialism are associated with an increase in the hourly wage of the same order of magnitude as the years of over-education in the standard ORU model. Under extreme versions of credentialism, where the level of education is used only to match individuals to jobs and where the skills that are valued in the labour market are only learned on the job, it would be expected that the credentialism wage effect would be zero. The fact that this return is not zero indicates that, even if the higher levels of schooling of our younger cohorts are not needed for them to be assigned to jobs, the skills learned at school are valued in the labour market. There are two key policy messages from this research. The first is that the additional years of schooling associated with credentialism are not wasted: these additional years appear to be linked to the development of skills that attract a reward of around 3-6%. This is comforting for advocates of the expansion of the education sector. Second, there are large gains that could be potentially achieved through a better matching of workers' actual educational attainment to job requirements. (Contains 14 tables, 1 figure, and 11 footnotes.)

Younger workers, particularly those entering the workforce at ages 25-34 years, are more educated than ever before. The potential for these workers to be over-educated in their jobs might therefore be high. But does it follow that they are mismatched to the skill requirements of their jobs? This study examines the link between over-education and skill mismatches for Australian workers aged 25-34 and 35-44 years of age, based on an analysis of data from the 1996 Survey of Aspects of Literacy and the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey. In addition, the wage returns from over-education and over-skilling are investigated. This research provides an interesting comparison with work done by Mavromaras, McGuinness and King (), which also looked at job mismatch in workers, using data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. This research confirms that there are substantial differences between the two concepts of over-education and over-skilling. Most over-skilled workers have low levels of education and require fewer skills at work than they actually have. The majority of under-skilled workers hold a university degree, suggesting that many highly educated workers find themselves in challenging jobs. However, over-education is associated with skills' under-utilisation. The effects of over-education on wages differ substantially across education levels, with the penalty from over-education less severe for highly educated workers than for workers with lower educational attainment. Ryan and Sinning find that it is the level of education more than the skill level of workers that determines their remuneration, with over-skilling having no additional effect on wages beyond that accounted for by over-education. The cost of younger workers with vocational education and training (VET) qualifications being over-educated and in low-skill jobs is of concern. That this effect is also observed in slightly older workers suggests that some VET graduates find themselves entrenched in low-level jobs. (Contains 10 tables, 7 figures and 8 footnotes.)

This study extends previous work of Cain Polidano and Kostas Mavromaras (2010) which showed that vocational education and training (VET) qualifications had a positive effect on the chances of finding work for people with a disability. It teases out this earlier result by looking at whether, for those who already have a disability, completing a VET qualification improves conditions of employment--wage rates, the probability of being in full-time employment, job satisfaction--and benefits of employment, including household income and welfare dependence in comparison to those with no post-school qualification. Higher education qualifications are not considered because they are rarer for people with a disability to attain. Polidano and Vu extend their thinking about the relationship between education, disability and labour market outcomes, by also considering what happens in situations in which the disability occurs after an individual is in the labour market. Their focus is the extent to which VET and higher education qualifications may reduce the disruptive effects of disability onset. One of the difficulties in undertaking this analysis is that an individual's qualifications impact on choice of occupation and people in some occupations are more likely to be affected by a disability than in others--perhaps because of the level of physical requirements inherent in different jobs. (This study reports that physical disabilities are the most common type of disability irrespective of qualification level). In this respect, Polidano and Vu find that rates of employment in the first year of disability onset decline by nine percentage points for those with no post-school qualification and 11 percentage points for those with a VET qualification compared to only five percentage points for those with a higher education qualification. One would suggest this says more about the occupation than the possession of a qualification as such. A new finding is that, for people with disability who are out of work or in a part-time job, completing a VET qualification significantly improves the chances of getting a "full-time" job, compared to those with no post-school qualifications. With this comes greater financial independence. Appendices include: (1) Results from the probit matching models; (2) Balancing test results; (3) Results using nearest neighbour matching; (4) Duration of disability; and (5) Technical discussion. (Contains 18 tables, 1 figure and 17 footnotes.)

This research investigates the incidence and wage effects of overskilling for vocational education and training (VET) graduates in Australia between 2001 and 2006. Overskilling is defined as the extent to which workers are able to use their skills and abilities in their current job. The authors compare overskilling with other measures of skill mismatch and skill underutilisation in the workplace and explain why overskilling is their chosen mismatch measure. The research focuses on the impact of four different levels of highest educational attainment: formal school qualification with Year 12; formal school qualification less than Year 12; formal post-school qualification (VET); and formal post-school qualification with diploma/degree. The research finds that many Australian workers report that they are overskilled in their workplace (30% moderately, and 15% severely overskilled). Almost counterintuitively, those with the lowest formal qualifications report the highest incidence of underutilisation. Overskilling is found to be self-perpetuating, but only for university graduates and school graduates. VET graduates show no overskilling state dependence, a result that suggests that a mismatched VET graduate can get out of their mismatched job and into a well-matched job more easily than their school or their university counterpart. The research offers two main conclusions: first, post-school qualifications generate benefits that may go beyond the increased lifetime financial returns often referred to in the literature; and, second, different types of post-school education confer different benefits, in terms of employment possibilities and patterns, with VET being a safer but less well-remunerated education pathway. Appendices include: (1) Descriptive statistics; and (2) Estimation results. (Contains 12 tables and 20 footnotes.)

Over 20 years ago, during a period of high youth unemployment, Peter Kirby recommended that a system of traineeships be adopted for disadvantaged 16- and 17-year-olds. Growth in traineeships was initially slow until the mid-1990s, when rapid growth followed a series of reforms to traineeships. The reforms included the introduction of employer incentives and the widening of traineeships to existing workers, part-time workers, and older workers. This paper builds on work commissioned by the Victorian Interdepartmental Policy Unit on Youth Transitions into the effectiveness of traineeships for the youth cohort. Findings suggest that traineeships are an important pathway for female early school leavers. However, if the target group for traineeships is disadvantaged young people, then they are poorly targeted. The employment outcomes from traineeships are good, particularly for young early school leavers, but they find little evidence that traineeships have had a significant impact on skills acquisition. Overall, the authors conclude that the traineeship model is a good one, as the mixture of formal education and experience in the workplace is educationally very attractive. Their suggestions for improvement relate to better targeting of government support. In particular, they suggest that government support be targeted towards disadvantaged job seekers, such as early school leavers. Appendices include: (1) Consultations methodology; (2) Detailed history of policies relating to the traineeship system; (3) Illustrative case studies of wage costs and implicit wage subsidies; (4) Most popular training packages for Australia; and (5) Further study. (Contains 12 footnotes, 4 boxes, 24 tables, and 5 figures.)

This study identifies the factors which explain why individuals enter or do not enter traditional trade apprenticeships. Two sources of information are used--students in secondary schools and current apprentices (including those who have recently completed their training). Specifically, information was obtained from about 800 apprentices and close to 1600 students in Years 10, 11 and 12 in South Australia. Among the findings: (1) Having an intrinsic interest in a trade is the main motivation for taking up or wanting to take up an apprenticeship. Improving the image of the trades among students, teachers and parents would promote a greater interest. (2) Most senior secondary school students claim not to be interested in doing an apprenticeship, with students of higher academic ability much less likely to be interested. Students of parents with university degrees were also less likely to be interested. Apprenticeship recruitment drives are likely to be more effective if they target those not planning to go on to higher education. Information should be made available to all students, since over one in three commencing apprentices have completed Year 12. (3) The current information and guidance available to school students is a potential barrier to greater interest in apprenticeships among young people. Apprenticeships were not widely promoted at school and specific information was not always easy to obtain. Relatively few students were encouraged by their teachers and counselors to pursue an apprenticeship. (4) Many school students are not attracted to apprenticeships because they believe pay of tradespeople to be too low (by comparison with pay for professionals). In contrast, those part way through an apprenticeship believe the main barrier to continuing is the training wage, which is low relative to what they might earn elsewhere. It is likely that this is a contributing factor to uptake and perhaps to non-completion. (5) Those part way through an apprenticeship are very positive about the experience, pointing especially to the enjoyment and challenge obtained from working and learning new skills, and the foundation the apprenticeship provides for good job and pay prospects for the future. Promoting these positive experiences could improve interest in apprenticeships among school students. This study helps us to better understand the career motivations of secondary school students, the experience of apprentices, and the relevant merits of different approaches for promoting careers in trades to various groups of students. The information gained can be used to focus recruitment drives more sharply and to provide some light on the changes to workplace practice, working conditions and training that may need to occur. (Contains 41 tables and 4 figures. Appended are: (1) Methodology; (2) Tables; (3) Occupations of Parents; and (4) Regression analysis-- all students.)

The aim of this report was to quantify the benefit, in terms of higher wages, of completing a vocational education and training (VET) qualification. Two factors influenced the direction of this research. First of all, VET is concerned primarily with improvements in skill levels (with a likely consequence of improved productivity and therefore increased wages). Secondly, it is certainly the case that many students do not complete qualifications; it is apparent that students take what they want from VET and do not necessarily desire a qualification. The data examined for this study came from the Student Outcomes Survey and the national VET collection conducted annually by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). Can one conclude from this research that, indeed, there is a return from completing a qualification and that we should be concerned about the high non-completion rate? There is no simple answer and one needs to acknowledge, first, that VET is very varied and, second, there are positive wage returns from completing a VET qualification for some students, but not for others. These findings stand in sharp contrast to the perceived wage benefits that graduates (and module completers to a lesser extent) report as a result of their training. This contrast is particularly sharp for those with higher-level (certificate IV or higher) previous qualifications. (Contains 39 tables and 5 appendixes.) [This document was produced with funding provided through the Department of Education, Science and Training.]

This study focuses on the general question of the value of vocational qualifications to employers by considering three areas in which the economic value of vocational qualifications to employers is evident: in prerequisites specified in job hiring, in employment levels of people with different qualifications, and in the wage levels of people with different qualifications. The findings indicate that employers want people with qualifications when recruiting for some jobs, but experience is more valuable. Employers are more likely to employ people with qualifications but this depends on the level of qualification, age and sex. Employers pay more for people with qualifications but again, this depends on the type of qualification--schooling matters more than low-level vocational qualifications. Revised 20 October 2005. Appended are: (1) Interview prompt sheet; and (2) Wage equations. (Contains 15 tables and 19 figures.) [This report was produced with funding provided through the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training. The author/project team were funded to undertake this research via a grant under the National Vocational Education and Training Research and Evaluation (NVETRE) Program.]

The purpose of this project was to review the use of price measures in education and training and to consider the types of measures that could be applied. There are several contexts in which price measures are needed and the context will affect the type of measure of price change that is needed. Section 1 of the report discusses budget estimates and planning accountability for efficient and equitable use of funds; and research involving consideration of resources. Section 2 is an overview of the major forms of price indexes. Section 3 reports on the current use made by national authorities of measures of price changes in relation to education expenditure. Section 4 reviews the current use of price deflators with a view to the most appropriate index for the particular purpose. Section 5 considers price measures for the wage and non-wage components of vocational education training (VET) expenses and their limitations for the purposes specified. Summary and concluding comments are presented in Section 6. Two appendices are included: (1) Review of Selected Price Measures and their Limitations; and (2) Selected CPI Groups, Sub-Groups and Expenditure Classes. (Contains 7 footnotes, 5 boxes and 9 tables.)

After a period of relative neglect in many countries, apprenticeships and other forms of work-based learning are experiencing a revival. Their effectiveness in easing school-to-work transitions and serving the economy is increasingly recognised. However, engaging individuals, employers, social partners and education and training systems in such learning remains a significant challenge. In light of this, "Seven Questions about Apprenticeships" draws out policy messages on how to design and implement high-quality apprenticeships, using material from the OECD project Work-based Learning in Vocational Education and Training. It presents answers to seven questions commonly asked by governments and practitioners seeking to either introduce or reform apprenticeship systems for young people and/or older workers. Can apprenticeships provide a useful contribution in every country? Should employers receive financial incentives for providing apprenticeships? What is the right wage for apprentices, and how long should an apprenticeship last? How can we ensure a good learning experience at work? How can apprenticeships be made to work for youth at risk? And how to attract potential apprentices? The study establishes principles of effective practice by building on new analytical work and examples of effective practice from around the world. (Individual chapters contain references.)

This overview paper highlights implications of keynote papers and discussion at the first National Issues Forum held by the Research Center for Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Australia. It discusses evidence that the school-to-work (STW) transition is a problem for an increasing number of young people and why. It outlines the government's range of responses to help young people, including greatly increased public funding for VET. However, evidence is presented that shows VET providers have failed to attract an increasing proportion of young people, shown by the decline in young people's participation in VET. Reasons for the decline include: changing patterns of demand for skills; and changing youth attitudes and competition from adults for access to training. Recent survey results are presented on employment and earnings outcomes achieved by young people who use a VET course to prepare them for employment. The paper suggests that VET's traditional strengths--its institutional base and vocational focus--may also be its greatest weaknesses in the future. Evidence is presented that countries with similar training arrangements (apprenticeship system and well-defined occupational structures of the industrial award system) are making major changes to how their structured education STW pathways work. The paper concludes by exploring types of changes VET needs to make. A case is made for VET providers to undertake continuous reassessment of how well they are currently meeting needs of potential students. (YLB)

Training measures in the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Young Men, the National Child Development Study for Britain, and the Australian Longitudinal Survey of Youth were used to study determinants and labor market outcomes of postschool training received by young men. Twelve percent of U.S. youth reported getting formal training in the first year, compared with between 30 and 40 percent of nonapprentice males in Britain and Australia. As they acquired work experience, a high proportion of U.S. youth reported receiving training, whereas job training in Britain and Australia proceeded at a slower pace. U.S. employers provided workers with company-based training; British and Australian employers relied on outside training sources. Level of schooling attainment was an important predictor of postschool training and labor market success. For all three countries, better-educated youth were considerably more likely to get training. Rapid technical changes increased the likelihood of getting company training, especially for youth with the most education. In all three countries, union membership was associated with an increased probability of training, and company-based training had by far the largest quantitative influence on raising youth wages. Other training benefits were employability and job stability. Wage effects of formal training in the United States were roughly twice those in Britain and Australia. (32 references) (YLB)

An initial analysis of self-reported, formal, postschool job training and the labor market outcomes of that training in Great Britain, Australia, and the United States was made through a study of survey results in each of the countries. The data revealed that there is not one kind of training, but various kinds for different purposes, with important differences among training sources, their determinants, and their consequences for wages and employment. The data also showed different patterns of skill acquisition over the early work career, varying by education, demographic group, and apprenticeship status in each country, as well as across countries. Some specific findings are the following: (1) in all three countries, the level of schooling attained by a worker is an important predictor of postschool training and labor market success, better-educated workers are more likely to receive employer-provided training, and employer-provided training has the greatest effect on raising wages and reducing unemployment; (2) in the United States, workers receive low initial levels of training but accumulate more training with time on the job, whereas in Great Britain and Australia, training is concentrated in the early work years; (3) in the United States, most training is provided by employers, whereas in the other two countries, it is mostly provided by schools and other off-the-job sources; (4) in the United States, training yields higher returns, in terms of wages, than in the other countries; and (5) poorer youths in all three countries receive less training. (KC)

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the link between age and proficiency in information-processing skills, based on information drawn from the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). The data reveal significant age-related differences in proficiencies, strongly suggesting that proficiency tends to "naturally" decline with age. Age differences in proficiency are, at first sight, substantial. On average across the OECD countries participating in PIAAC, adults aged 55 to 65 score some 30 points less than adults aged 25 to 34 on the PIAAC literacy scale, which is only slightly smaller than the score point difference between tertiary educated and less-than-upper-secondary educated individuals. However, despite their lower levels of proficiency, older individuals do not seem to suffer in terms of labour market outcomes. In particular, they generally earn higher wages, and much of the available empirical evidence suggests that they are not less productive than younger workers. Older and more experienced individuals seem therefore able to compensate the decline in information processing skills with the development of other skills, generally much more difficult to measure. On the other hand, proficiency in information-processing skills remain a strong determinant of important outcomes at all ages: this makes it important to better understand which factors are the most effective in preventing such age-related decline in proficiency, which does not occur to the same extent in all countries and for all individuals. Two broad interventions seem to be particularly promising in this respect. First, it is important to ensure that there is adequate and effective investment in skills development early in the life-cycle: as skills beget skills, starting off with a higher stock of human capital seems also to ensure smaller rates of proficiency decline. Second, it is equally important that policies are in place that provide incentives to individuals (and firms) to invest in skills across the entire working life. In this respect, changes in retirement policies can not only have the short-term effect of providing some reliefs to public finance, but have the potential to radically reshape incentives to stay active, to practice their skills and to invest more in training, thus helping to maintain high levels of proficiency. One table, Age Differences and Age Effects, is appended.

This study compares tuition funding arrangements, debt at graduation, and earnings outcomes for full-time domestic undergraduates in eight Anglophone countries: the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland), United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. According to multiple estimates, the average English student faces the highest levels of graduate debt of these countries. Even compared with average graduates of US private for-profit universities, estimates suggest that English students will graduate with higher average levels of debt. However, the vast majority of English students' study-related debt is held by the state, which has relatively clear repayment conditions compared to other Anglophone countries. Despite this, the fact that English students now face some of the highest tuition fees in the world, and the highest average debts at graduation, should be cause for concern, not least because the number of part-time and mature students enrolling at UK institutions across recent years has dropped precipitously. While full-time undergraduate university enrollment has recovered since the imposition of £9,000 fees in 2012, university needs to remain a viable option for everyone, especially those from poorer backgrounds, who are disproportionately underrepresented across the UK professional landscape. This report provides the rationale for the selection of countries, the key data sources for each, and considerations required to make meaningful comparison. The policy background section offers a brief introduction to student fees and funding internationally, presenting a synthesis of previous research. Three narrative sections address: (1) Student fees, loans, and grants by country; (2) Loan repayment terms and conditions by country; and (3) Debt at graduation, starting salaries, and lifetime returns by country. Contains endnotes.