Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Chongcharoentanawat, Patima
Author-Email: chongcharoentanawat@merit.unu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT
Author-Name: Gassmann, Franziska
Author-Email: gassmann@merit.unu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT
Author-Name: Mohnen, Pierre
Author-Email: mohnen@merit.unu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT
Title: Thailand's vocational training and upward mobility:  Impact Heterogeneity and 
	 Policy Implications
Abstract: This paper provides the first impact evaluation of vocational training 
	 in Thailand using various treatment effect methods with unique 
	 longitudinal survey data, covering seven years, to evaluate the impact 
	 of vocational training on economic and social mobility in the short, 
	 medium and long term. We find that vocational training fails to move 
	 participants upward both in terms of earning and employment. However, 
	 training participation is found to increase expenditures in the short 
	 and medium term but these positive impacts vanish when we strictly 
	 confine counterfactuals or allow for the endogeneity of the decision to 
	 attend the programme. We also examine the heterogeneity of effects with 
	 respect to individual and programme characteristics to answer the 
	 questions for whom the training works and which type of training works 
	 best. The results suggest that women, rural residents, youth (aged 
	 15-24) and elderly (aged 60 and above), low-educated workers, and 
	 economically inactive people, benefit less from the programme. With 
	 regard to heterogeneity by type of training, we find that computer 
	 training courses, training offered by private institutions and a 
	 cooperation of government and private agencies, and training financed by 
	 employers are associated with better outcomes.
Classification-JEL: J08, J24, O15
Keywords: vocational training, socioeconomic upward mobility, human 
	 development, impact evaluation, Thailand 
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 20181112
Number: 2018-043
File-URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2018/wp2018-043.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2018043