Comparative research on the impact of the vocational specificity of educational systems on youth labour market integration has expanded rapidly in the past decades. The present study reviews this body of research, focusing on how it has conceptualized the vocational specificity of educational systems and theorized its effect on youth labour market integration. Moreover, this study synthesizes the empirical evidence compiled in this research using a meta-analytical approach. Our review reveals that this research area is theoretically fragmented. A commonly accepted definition of the vocational specificity of educational systems is lacking and various theoretical approaches and conceptual frameworks are invoked to theorize the effect of vocational specificity, while exact mechanisms that are assumed to underlie the effect are often left unspecified. Our meta-analysis includes 105 effect estimates nested in 19 studies, published between 2003 and 2018, that used methods enabling a formal meta-analytical comparison. Results show that the overall average effect is positive and statistically significant but its magnitude is modest and there is substantial variability in the size and even direction of observed effects. We find that this variability is partly driven by which aspect of labour market integration was examined and which measure of vocational specificity was used.

中文翻译：

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教育系统的职业特性和青年劳动力市场整合：文献回顾和元分析

在过去的几十年里，关于教育系统的职业特殊性对青年劳动力市场一体化影响的比较研究迅速扩大。本研究回顾了这一系列研究，重点关注它如何将教育系统的职业特性概念化，并将其对青年劳动力市场整合的影响进行理论化。此外，本研究使用元分析方法综合了本研究中收集的经验证据。我们的审查表明，该研究领域在理论上是支离破碎的。缺乏普遍接受的教育系统职业特殊性定义，并援引各种理论方法和概念框架来对职业特殊性的影响进行理论化，而假设作为影响基础的确切机制往往未具体说明。我们的荟萃分析包括嵌套在 2003 年至 2018 年间发表的 19 项研究中的 105 项效应估计，这些研究使用的方法能够进行正式的荟萃分析比较。结果表明，总体平均效应是积极的且具有统计学意义，但其幅度不大，并且观察到的效应的大小甚至方向存在很大差异。我们发现这种可变性部分是由劳动力市场一体化的哪个方面被检查以及使用了哪种职业特异性衡量标准所驱动的。结果表明，总体平均效应是积极的且具有统计学意义，但其幅度不大，并且观察到的效应的大小甚至方向存在很大差异。我们发现这种可变性部分是由劳动力市场一体化的哪个方面被检查以及使用了哪种职业特异性衡量标准所驱动的。结果表明，总体平均效应是积极的且具有统计学意义，但其幅度不大，并且观察到的效应的大小甚至方向存在很大差异。我们发现这种可变性部分是由劳动力市场一体化的哪个方面被检查以及使用了哪种职业特异性衡量标准所驱动的。