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FROM JOBS TO CAREERS
Indicator One: Investment in Human Capital By “investment in human capital,” this study means investment in people through formal education. At least as far back as Becker (1975), scholars have documented a significant positive relationship between education and earnings. Kabeer and Natali (2013) argue that education plays a critical role in helping to maximize women’s contribution to economic growth. Different levels of education matter for accessing either job- or career-oriented pathways. Literacy and completion of primary education are associated with lower fertility levels and positive health-seeking behavior. Completion of uppersecondary and tertiary education is needed to enter many, if not most, occupations associated with careers. US EDUCATION PATTERNS AND DRIVING FACTORS Some interesting education patterns emerge from Goldin’s work on the United States, focusing on women’s attainment of secondary education and the importance of expanding it to facilitate the jobs-to-careers transition (Goldin 2006; Goldin and Katz 2008a, 2008b). In the United States, the shift from Phase I to Phase II—that is, from agriculture and factory work to clerical work—was accompanied by an increase in high school (upper-secondary) graduation rates and the growth of secondary educational institutions from the 1910s to the 1940s (Goldin 2006). US overall high school graduation rates increased from 9 percent in 1910 to 27 percent in 1928. In the states outside the South, the corresponding increase was from 11 percent to 32 percent, and then to 56 percent by 1938. Education levels result from both supply-side factors (the presence, distribution, and quality of public and private schools as well as government requirements for education) and demand-side factors (reflecting individuals’ or families’ decisions to invest in education). Several studies that explore measures of both the supply and demand sides around the world show that both play critical roles in determining educational outcomes (Goldin and Katz 2008a, 2008b). In the United States particularly, state expenditures on public colleges and universities created a powerful incentive for youths to graduate from high school. Although Goldin and Katz (2008a) suggest that compulsory schooling and stricter child labor laws did not play the most pivotal roles in increasing US secondary school graduation rates, evidence from other countries suggests that such laws have been effective, particularly when accompanied by large increases in education access and spending. The researchers argue that US secondary school enrollment expanded because of factors such as the substantial wage returns to each additional year of school, increased family wealth, and greater school access. Governments can always invest in providing more education, so we focus on the more nuanced demand-side investment decision.
