Central School Exit Exams and Labor-Market Outcomes
32 Pages Posted: 27 Sep 2012
There are 2 versions of this paper
Central School Exit Exams and Labor-Market Outcomes
Date Written: September 26, 2012
Abstract
Many countries use centralized exit exams as a governance devise of the school system. While abundant evidence suggests positive effects of central exams on achievement tests, previous research on university-bound students shows no effects on subsequent earnings. We suggest that labor-market effects may be more imminent for students leaving school directly for the labor market and, on rigid labor markets, for unemployment. Exploiting variation in exit-exam systems across German states, we find that central exams are indeed associated with higher earnings for students from school types directly bound for the labor market, as well as with lower unemployment.
Keywords: central exit exams, earnings, unemployment, Germany
JEL Classification: I200, J240, J310, J640
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