Search Results | VOCEDplus, the international tertiary education and research database

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The impact of disadvantage on VET completion and employment gaps

Increasing educational attainment is generally tied to better employment outcomes. The vocational education and tra ... Show more
Increasing educational attainment is generally tied to better employment outcomes. The vocational education and training (VET) sector is often used as an entry point into post-compulsory education for individuals who have experienced disadvantage in their lives. But does increasing participation in VET by disadvantaged individuals necessarily lead to the same benefits as experienced by their non-disadvantaged peers? Specifically, do disadvantaged learners have similar completion rates and employment outcomes as their non-disadvantaged peers? Using data from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research's (NCVER's) National VET Provider Collection and the Student Outcomes Survey, the authors find both completion and employment gaps exist between different groups of disadvantaged learners and their non-disadvantaged peers, but that closing the completion gap will not necessarily result in the closing of the employment gap.
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Authors: McVicar, Duncan; Tabasso, Domenico

Date: 2016

Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Series name: Promoting social inclusion for disadvantaged groups through education and training

Subjects: Outcomes; Employment; Disadvantaged ... [+] Show more
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If you get what you want, do you get what you need?: course choice and achievement effects of a vocational education and training voucher scheme

Outside of apprenticeships, allocations of public funds across vocational education and training (VET) courses are ... Show more
Outside of apprenticeships, allocations of public funds across vocational education and training (VET) courses are often made on the basis of government forecasts, with limited competition between (mostly public) colleges. This centralised model is often blamed for stifling responsiveness to skill demands and training quality. However, little is known about whether moving to alternative funding models improves outcomes. In this study, [the authors] exploit a natural experiment and population data to estimate the effects from the introduction of a broad-based voucher in VET in Australia. [The authors] show the voucher is associated with large increases in private college enrolments, improved match between course choice and employer demand, and higher student achievement, including in incumbent public colleges. Unlike studies in the school voucher literature, [the authors] find widespread benefits with no adverse impact on equity.
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Authors: McVicar, Duncan; Polidano, Cain

Date: 2015

Geographic subjects: Victoria; Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Series name: Melbourne Institute working paper

Subjects: Vocational education and training; Finance; Outcomes ... [+] Show more
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Non-standard 'contingent' employment and job satisfaction: a panel data analysis

It is widely assumed that contingent forms of employment, such as fixed-term contracts, labour-hire and casual empl ... Show more
It is widely assumed that contingent forms of employment, such as fixed-term contracts, labour-hire and casual employment, are associated with low quality jobs. This hypothesis is tested using data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, a nationally representative household panel survey covering a country with a high incidence of non-standard employment. Ordered logit regression models of job satisfaction are estimated that hold constant all time-invariant individual differences as well as a range of observed time-varying characteristics. The results indicate that, among males, both casual employees and labour-hire workers (but not fixed-term contract workers) report noticeably lower levels of job satisfaction. Restricting the sample to persons aged 20-59 increases the estimated magnitudes of these effects. Negative effects for women are mainly restricted to labour-hire workers. [The authors] also show that the relationships between job satisfaction and contract type vary with educational attainment and the length of job tenure. Working hours arrangements also mediate the relationship.
Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

Authors: Buddelmeyer, Hielke; McVicar, Duncan; Wooden, Mark

Date: 2013

Geographic subjects: Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Series name: IZA discussion paper

Subjects: Employment; Research; Statistics
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Income support recipients with disability on DSP and NSA: their characteristics, income support duration and employment participation

This report describes a group of Income Support recipients who are of particular interest to policy makers concerne ... Show more
This report describes a group of Income Support recipients who are of particular interest to policy makers concerned with the design and delivery of policies relating to welfare payments and labour market assistance for people with disability. Specifically, it examines individuals in receipt of either Disability Support Pension (DSP) or Newstart Allowance (NSA) who are assessed as having a restricted work capacity - formally, a work capacity bandwidth (WCB) of 15 to 29 hours per week - as a result of their disabilities. Centrelink data over the period 2005-2011 are used to present a detailed picture of socio-demographic characteristics, Income Support duration and participation in paid employment for this group of clients in comparison with various other groups including DSP and NSA recipients with no disability-related restrictions to their work capacity.
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Authors: Hanel, Barbara; McVicar, Duncan; Zakirova, Rezida

Date: 2013

Geographic subjects: Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Participation; Finance; Disability ... [+] Show more
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Contingent employment and labour market pathways: bridge or trap?

The debate over whether contingent (and typically more precarious) employment acts as a bridge to permanent employm ... Show more
The debate over whether contingent (and typically more precarious) employment acts as a bridge to permanent employment, or as a trap, has tended to focus on transitions rather than longer-run pathways. This approach cannot accurately identify indirect pathways from contingent to permanent employment, and nor can it identify 'trap' pathways involving short spells in other states. It also fails to distinguish between those experiencing contingent employment as a 'blip' and those with longer spells. This article employs a different approach involving sequence analysis. Exploiting longitudinal data for Australia, evidence for the co-existence of pathways that correspond to 'bridge' and 'trap' characterisations of contingent employment is found. Further, in the case of casual employment these two types of labour market pathways are roughly equally prevalent, although for some groups - in particular women, those with low educational attainment, and those with a disability - 'traps' are more likely than 'bridges'.
Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

Authors: McVicar, Duncan; Wooden, Mark; Fok, Yin King

Date: 2017

Geographic subjects: Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Series name: IZA discussion paper

Subjects: Employment; Disadvantaged; Statistics
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Impacts of the Victorian Training Guarantee on VET enrolments, course choice and completion

This study estimates impacts of the Victorian Training Guarantee (VTG) reforms that were implemented in the Victori ... Show more
This study estimates impacts of the Victorian Training Guarantee (VTG) reforms that were implemented in the Victorian [vocational education and training] VET sector between 2009 and 2011. Nationally, market-based reform to make the VET sector more responsive to changing skill demands is seen as key to maintaining Australia’s competitiveness and enhancing labour market participation. Replacing the existing supply-driven training system, where the number and type of publicly-funded VET places is set by government, with a more demand-driven system where the number and type of VET places provided more closely reflects student demand, is seen as an important step along this path. Victoria is the first Australian state to embrace such market-driven reforms.
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Authors: Leung, Felix; McVicar, Duncan; Polidano, Cain; Zhang, Rong

Date: 2013

Geographic subjects: Victoria; Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Vocational education and training; Participation; Teaching and learning ... [+] Show more
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Training and its impact on the casual employment experience

The proportion of people who are employed casually has been stable over the last 15 years at around 20 per cent of ... Show more
The proportion of people who are employed casually has been stable over the last 15 years at around 20 per cent of the working-age population. For most, casual employment is a relatively temporary state. There are some though for whom casual employment is a more enduring state. Does undertaking work-related training help those who are casually employed move into permanent or fixed-term work? And does such training have any impact on the level of satisfaction casually employed people have with their jobs, employment opportunities and life in general? Using data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia [HILDA] survey, this report investigates these issues. The authors find the impact of training per se on helping to move individuals from casual employment to more permanent work was minimal, as was the impact of training on an individual's satisfaction with their job or life.
Published abstract. Show less

Authors: Buddelmeyer, Hielke; Leung, Felix; McVicar, Duncan; Wooden, Mark

Date: 2013

Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Series name: National Vocational Education and Training Research Program research report

Subjects: Employment; Research; Teaching and learning ... [+] Show more
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Early impacts of the Victorian Training Guarantee on VET enrolments and graduate outcomes

The impact of the first round of Victorian demand-driven reforms, referred to as the Victorian Training Guarantee ( ... Show more
The impact of the first round of Victorian demand-driven reforms, referred to as the Victorian Training Guarantee (VTG), on enrolments and training outcomes is the focus of this report. The VTG reforms were introduced to create a more responsive training market and were implemented between July 2009 and January 2011. Subsequent reforms introduced in Victoria in 2012 are not part of this analysis. A particular focus of this report is on impacts for Indigenous students, those from a non-English speaking background and students with a disability. The impact of the VTG on enrolments and training outcomes for students from different age groups is also considered.
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Authors: Leung, Felix; McVicar, Duncan; Polidano, Cain; Zhang, Rong

Date: 2014

Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia; Victoria ... [+] Show more

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Series name: National Vocational Education and Training Research Program research report

Subjects: Vocational education and training; Outcomes; Policy ... [+] Show more
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The impact of paid parental leave on labour supply and employment outcomes

The introduction of the Australian Paid Parental Leave scheme in 2011 provides a rare opportunity to estimate the l ... Show more
The introduction of the Australian Paid Parental Leave scheme in 2011 provides a rare opportunity to estimate the labour supply and employment impacts of publicly-funded paid leave on mothers in the first year post-partum. The almost universal coverage of the scheme coupled with detailed survey data collected specifically for this purpose means that eligibility for paid leave under the scheme can be plausibly taken as exogenous following a standard propensity score matching exercise. In line with much of the existing literature, [the authors] find a positive impact on leave taking in the first half year and on the probability of eventually returning to work in the first year. The paper provides new evidence of a positive impact on continuing in the same job and under the same conditions. Further new evidence shows that disadvantaged mothers - low income, less educated, without access to employer-funded leave - respond most to the scheme.
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Authors: Broadway, Barbara; Kalb, Guyonne; McVicar, Duncan; Martin, Bill

Date: 2016

Geographic subjects: Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Series name: Melbourne Institute working paper

Subjects: Gender; Labour market; Employment ... [+] Show more
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Value added in further education and vocational education and training in Northern Ireland

This paper is intended to address the imbalance in debates about education and training standards which have focuse ... Show more
This paper is intended to address the imbalance in debates about education and training standards which have focused on improving schools and not the potential contribution to be made by the further education (FE) and vocational training sectors. It examines the extent to which those young people leaving school and entering vocational education and training (VET) at 16 years of age obtained further qualifications up to the age of 18. The paper also looks at whether the choice between FE and government training schemes at age 16 influences the subsequent success of young people in terms of gaining additional qualifications. Show less

Authors: Armstrong, David; McVicar, Duncan

Corporate authors: Northern Ireland Economic Research Centre (NIERC)

Date: [2000]

Geographic subjects: Europe; Great Britain

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Series name: NIERC working paper

Subjects: Youth; Qualifications; Secondary education ... [+] Show more

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