Vocational training for female job returners - Effects on employment, earnings and job quality

Abstract

This paper studies how training vouchers increase the employment prospects of women with interrupted employment histories. Using the population of female job returners who receive a training voucher to participate in training programs and a randomly selected control group from German administrative data, I analyze the effectiveness of training on various labor market outcomes. The analysis reveals that the receipt of a training voucher translates into substantial gains in employment and earnings. It reduces the gap between pre- and post-interruption earnings by as much as 77%. Moreover, training vouchers improve job quality, and increases job stability. Low skilled women benefit most.