Labour Market and Non-labour Market Outcomes of Education in Bangladesh: Does Education Matter in the Formation of Outcomes in Adulthood?

Abstract

What is the purpose of education? Is it to find a job and earn money? Or is it also to become more civically engaged and more aware about the responsibility of voting? These are some of the underlying questions that motivate this thesis, whereby I use the motivation for what purposes we expect education to serve to consider the question: What outcomes do we expect education to yield for each individual, and in turn, for the societies they live in? On one hand, for individuals, there are labour market outcomes of education- i.e., outcomes related to employment such as earnings, employment status and job type- whereby education affects individuals’ labour force participation and individuals’ earnings (Card, 1999; Psacharopoulos & Patrinos, 2018; Rahman & Islam, 2019). Consequently, by influencing individuals’ income and socio-economic status, education reduces their likelihood of poverty and consequently contributes to economic growth and economic development (Barro & Lee, 2013; Lutz, 2008; Mankiw et al., 1992; Pelinescu, 2015; Woessmann, 2016). Interestingly, in line with the employment-driven capitalistic narratives of today’s world, the labour market outcomes of education, i.e., education levels, have long been a focus of researchers and policymakers but little is understood on the topic in terms of different types of education. The question, thus, arises: Does the type of education, i.e., whether it is the general/academic type or religious or TVET, matter? On the other hand, for individuals, beyond the dominant narrative of labour market outcomes of education, there are non-labour-market outcomes of education- i.e., outcomes not directly related to employment such as individuals’ civic engagement and their voting behaviour-whereby education, through influencing individuals’ non-labour-market outcomes, ultimately contributes to societal betterment by lowering public health expenditure, by strengthening democracy, and by ensuring human rights, less crime in society, better environmental benefits, among others (McMahon, 2007, 2009). Therefore, education matters for individuals, their families, and for society as well. Importantly, there are non-labour-market outcomes beyond outcomes related to the labour market that warrant public investment in education, because essentially, investment in education should be motivated by the expectation that education will yield not only individuals who attain employment and earn, but also individuals who are more civically engaged and vote responsibly. The latter often escapes our attention in setting narratives, and so, in support of investing in education for the attainment of both labour market and non-labour-market outcomes of education, this thesis focuses on whether, and the extent to which, education is associated with a number of labour market outcomes and non-labour-market outcomes, on the individual level, in the context of Bangladesh- a lower-middle income country of the global south. As such, this thesis has two main lines of arguments as described below. First, in terms of labour market outcomes of education in Bangladesh, research has dominantly been focused on individuals’ earnings as an outcome of education, i.e., the economic returns to education, and especially on how earnings varies across individuals’ with different levels of education (see for example, Ahmed & McGillivray, 2015; Asadullah, 2006; Hossain, 1990; Riboud et al., 2007; Shafiq, 2007). Yet, there are also different types/streams of education in Bangladesh, e.g., general education, madrasah, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), co-existing at each education level, and so, the question arises: Do individuals’ earnings vary when comparing between general education and different educational routes, such as religious/madrasah education or TVET? Also, considering that individuals studying in these different education routes may have different aspirations and experiences, we cannot ignore the question of whether other labour market outcomes beyond earnings, such as individuals’ probability of being employed, job type and job sector, vary across different educational routes too. Most empirical studies in Bangladesh so far have not focused on these questions related to different streams of education, and so, in investigating these overlooked questions, this thesis focuses on whether labour market outcomes-employment status, job sector, type of job as well as earnings- vary across different educational routes in this context. Second, in exploring different outcomes of education, that is, the role of education in the formation of different individual outcomes, the dominant narrative has been to focus on labour market outcomes of education in the belief that the main purpose of education is to get a job and earn. This does not mean, however, that the purpose of education has to solely be job-oriented. What about other aspects relevant to how individuals interact in society, for instance civic engagement or voting? Significantly, the Ministry of Education in Bangladesh acknowledges aims beyond just those related to labour market-related outcomes, such as building skilled human resources for productivity and economic advancement, and includes aims that are more non-labour-market related, such as becoming good citizens, developing a democratic culture and social awareness, and stimulating moral, human, cultural and social values (Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh (GoB), 2010). However, to the best of my knowledge, there is limited empirical evidence on such non-labour-market outcomes of education in Bangladesh, especially in terms of rural contexts. To fill this gap, this thesis moves beyond the dominant narrative of education being solely for labour-market gains by examining the role of education in the formation of some non-labour-market outcomes, in arguing that non-labour-market outcomes of education, such as the ones examined in this thesis, should be considered as central to an education and why we attend formal education. In sum, for each of the empirical cases outlined above, this thesis addresses, and fills, a gap in existing research and, essentially, sheds light on two different non-dominant narratives. First, in terms of labour market outcomes, this thesis focuses on different types of education, which has so far been shadowed by a focus on only education levels. In doing so, I use nationally representative data from both rural and urban areas in Bangladesh and explore differences in four different labour market outcomes- individuals’ likelihood of being employed, their type of job, job sector and their earnings- across religious/madrasah and general education (first empirical chapter-chapter 4) and across TVET and general education (second empirical chapter-chapter 5). Second, for the case of non-labour-market outcomes, this thesis uses data representative of rural populations, which contains important information on educational levels and a range of different non-labour-market outcomes. With 61% of Bangladesh’s population still residing in rural areas (World Bank, 2021), this thesis sheds light on the extent to which different levels of education, in particular primary, secondary, higher secondary and tertiary education, are related to the following non-labour-market outcomes later in life: civic engagement (third empirical chapter-chapter 6) and whether individuals vote in different local and national elections in Bangladesh (final empirical chapter- chapter 7). For the analyses in this thesis, I employ quantitative empirical approaches such as Ordinary Least Squares, Logit models, Propensity Score Matching and Poisson models. In the case of the investigation of labour market outcomes across educational routes, this thesis finds that an individuals’ educational route being either general or madrasah does affect an individuals’ probability of being employed and their type of job but not their labour market earnings, and that being madrasah-educated leads to a lesser likelihood of being employed. On the other hand, being TVET-educated, compared to general-educated, does not, in general, affect individuals’ probability of being employed. For the case of the examination of non-labour-market outcomes of education, this thesis finds that individuals with higher levels of education in rural areas are: (1) Often more likely to be comfortable public speakers and more likely to contribute to the community, and (2) Less likely to vote, and this is observed especially in the case of younger respondents. Overall, the contribution of this thesis is twofold. First, it compels us to critically acknowledge different educational routes in the research of labour market outcomes of education in Bangladesh, which is important in order to be truly inclusive and aware of different groups of individuals having different perceptions, educational goals, preferences and different purposes. Second, it contributes to the limited literature on the non-labour-market outcomes of education in rural Bangladesh, and the global south in general.