Ninth Annual Conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy Human Capital Development for Sustained Economic Growth/ Preparing Women of Substance? Education, Training and Labour Market Outcomes for Women in Pakistan

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.