Dual vocational training students earn 42% more in their first two years of work

Dual vocational training students have a certain advantage when entering the labor market, they manage to work hours and earn more than students who have taken the same cycle in face-to-face format during the first two years after graduation. They work three months longer and earn up to 4,900 euros more on average in that period, 42%, according to the study ‘Does Vocational Education and Training Pay Off?’ (Is dual FP profitable?) signed by economists Samuel Bentolila, Antonio Cabrales and Marcel Jansen. However, the presence of temporary contracts among younger workers means that opting for dual vocational training does not translate into greater options of obtaining a permanent or full-time contract.

Using data from students from 2013, 2014 and 2015 – the first three cohorts after introducing dual vocational training in Spain in 2012 – and from the Community of Madrid, the authors have tried to establish causal relationships. To do this, they have taken into account not only age, sex or nationality, which can influence whether a young person decides to take dual vocational training, but also the distance from their home to the nearest center, as explained by the professor at the CEMFI, Samuel Bentolila. “We observed that during the first two years we worked more days, which resulted in a higher total income even though they did not charge much more for each hour worked. There is a difference but it is small, it is not statistically significant” tells The Information.

Students who do face-to-face VET, the traditional model, spend three months in the company where they do internships and these are unpaid, while in the dual model – a format that seeks to act as a bridge between training and professional life – they invest up to a year in the company and obtains a certain monetary reward for it. This difference is the main factor that explains the difference in the performance of graduates of both trainings in the 24 months after obtaining the degree. “It is an almost medical effect and is concentrated in the first year, the probability that an internship company hires a dual graduate in their first year in the market is 22 percentage points higher,” says Bentolila.

The economics professor admits that the group started with the idea that companies would retain more dual vocational training students, they spend more time in the company in internship mode, which allows them to get to know their profile beyond the skills. . cognitive abilities (punctuality, ability to work in a team…) so they were surprised to see that there was no greater degree of commitment on the part of companies with these graduates. “We might think that knowing them more, seeing how they fit into the company and having invested more time in training them could help them have greater commitment, but it doesn’t seem to go that far,” he acknowledges in conversation with this medium.

The authors have taken the sample from three classes and only two years after graduation – which extends until 2018 – as this is the most complete data they have been able to obtain so far. However, they intend to expand the study with more years of follow-up and incorporating new territories, among which Catalonia is of particular interest to them as it is a region with a longer tradition of dual training and where the chambers of commerce play a more active role. which would contribute to clearing up other doubts such as whether the differences revert after this period.

The economist advances that there is a possibility that, at the very least, they will be attenuated, because if dual vocational training students start with a certain advantage in their first contact with the labor market due to having spent more time in the internship company, they could be harmed in the long term. Graduates of face-to-face FP have received more hours of classes at the study center, which means that their training can be more complete and allows them to access better or at least different jobs. Although the researchers also value that the skills acquired during the internship by the dual students could lead to convergence in the medium term.

The last FP reform was approved in 2022, so we will have to wait to measure the impact of the latest changes introduced. The text seeks to move towards the conversion of all FP degrees into dual-type ones, although two modalities will be offered. The general training will have between 25% and 35% of the training time in the company, while the intensive vocational training will dedicate more hours in the companies to acquire practical training. Economists appreciate that this could be a good reform, but they warn of the challenge of carrying it out in a context marked by the presence of small and medium-sized companies that are generally more reactive to adding intern students to their workplaces.