Thailand's vocational training and upward mobility: Impact Heterogeneity and Policy Implications
Patima Chongcharoentanawat, Franziska Gassmann & Pierre Mohnen
#2018-043
This paper provides the first impact evaluation of vocational training
in Thailand using various treatment effect methods with unique
longitudinal survey data, covering seven years, to evaluate the impact
of vocational training on economic and social mobility in the short,
medium and long term. We find that vocational training fails to move
participants upward both in terms of earning and employment. However,
training participation is found to increase expenditures in the short
and medium term but these positive impacts vanish when we strictly
confine counterfactuals or allow for the endogeneity of the decision to
attend the programme. We also examine the heterogeneity of effects with
respect to individual and programme characteristics to answer the
questions for whom the training works and which type of training works
best. The results suggest that women, rural residents, youth (aged
15-24) and elderly (aged 60 and above), low-educated workers, and
economically inactive people, benefit less from the programme. With
regard to heterogeneity by type of training, we find that computer
training courses, training offered by private institutions and a
cooperation of government and private agencies, and training financed by
employers are associated with better outcomes.
Key words: vocational training, socioeconomic upward mobility, human
development, impact evaluation, Thailand
JEL Classification: J08, J24, O15