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Abstract

The study seeks to investigate the returns to technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Zambia using the 2014 Labour Force Survey (LFS). We adopt the modified Mincerian model and the fixed effects approach. We find that individuals who possessed TVET skills with certification, regardless of their gender or their place of residence, significantly earned more than their counterparts in wage employment without any TVET skills. We also find that males with vocational skills with certification significantly earned more than their female counterparts with the same TVET skills with certification, a sign of labour market discriminatory bias by employers. Moreover, we observe that individuals residing in rural areas with TVET skills with certification significantly earned more than their counterparts in urban areas with the same TVET skills with certification because employers may want to lure TVET graduates to relocate from urban areas to rural areas. However, individuals with TVET skills without certification did not significantly earn more than their colleagues in wage employment without TVET skills. In some cases, individuals with TVET training but without certification were observed to be worse off than their counterparts without TVET training in wage employment. Given the above evidence, it is imperative that the Zambian government significantly increases spending towards vocational training as well as invest in TVET infrastructure in order to improve TVET enrollment rates. This will enhance the employability of Zambians across the country and generate substantial returns to TVET skills. However, there is need for a deliberate policy that will ensure that females with the same vocational skills as their male counterparts earn the same returns. There is also need for deliberate awareness campaigns on the benefits of TVET training in order to reduce the stigma around TVET.

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