Measuring the earnings returns to lifelong learning in the UK

Summary

This paper examines the earnings returns to learning that
takes place following the conventional ‘school-to-work’ stage of the
life-course. We operationalise such ‘lifelong learning’ as the
attainment of certified qualifications in adulthood, following the
completion of the first period of continuous full-time education. Using
data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) for the period
1991–2006, our approach and findings represent an important addition to
the existing evidence base. By using annual data, we are able to employ
the fixed effects estimator, which eliminates the problem of
time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity. Our dynamic specification uses
a lag structure to consider how earnings returns evolve in the medium
and longer run, whilst also controlling for wage trends which were
evident prior to qualification attainment. Our results show a
medium-run return for women of 10% on hourly wages. For men, initial
suggestions of a similar positive return are eliminated once
pre-qualification trends are taken into account. This suggests that
adult learning has a causal effect on women''s subsequent earnings but,
for men, any apparent gain is due to selection.