Background:

In 1999, an education reform was implemented in Poland, which added 1 year to the shortest available educational path—that of basic vocational education. Under the new system, students choosing this path receive one additional year of general education. According to the authors of the reform, this should improve the students’ position in the labor market, as a shortage of general skills was identified as the main deficit of basic vocational school leavers prior to the reform.

Purpose:

The study assesses the impact of the 1999 reform on the hourly wage of individuals who completed formal education after obtaining a basic vocational school certificate.

Methods:

The analysis is based on individual data from the Polish Labor Force Survey for the years 2001–2016. As the education reform was implemented simultaneously across the country, a regression discontinuity design is used to assess its impact.

Results and Conclusions:

The study finds that one additional year of general education has led to a 13% increase in the hourly wages of individuals who completed basic vocational schools. This effect is higher than those reported in studies for other countries where the wage premium is typically found to be under 10%. This may be because the extension of compulsory schooling in Poland affected individuals with relatively low general skills and abilities.

中文翻译：

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义务教育对时薪的影响：来自 1999 年波兰教育改革的证据

背景：

1999年，波兰实施教育改革，将最短的教育路径——基础职业教育增加了1年。在新制度下，选择这条道路的学生多接受一年的普通教育。改革的作者认为，这应该会提高学生在劳动力市场中的地位，因为在改革之前，基本职业学校毕业生的主要不足是缺乏通用技能。

目的：

该研究评估了 1999 年改革对获得基本职业学校证书后完成正规教育的个人小时工资的影响。

方法：

该分析基于 2001-2016 年波兰劳动力调查的个人数据。由于教育改革在全国同步实施，因此采用回归不连续性设计来评估其影响。

结果和结论：

研究发现，完成基础职业学校的个人的时薪增加了 13% 的通识教育。这种影响高于其他国家的研究报告，这些国家的工资溢价通常低于 10%。这可能是因为波兰义务教育的延长影响了一般技能和能力相对较低的个人。