The Difficult School-to-Work Transition of High School Dropouts: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Pierre Cahuc (1, 2) , Stéphane Carcillo (3, 4) , Andreea Minea (3, 5)

1 ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po)
2 CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research
3 Sciences Po - Sciences Po
4 IZA - Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit - Institute of Labor Economics
5 CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique

We investigate the effects of the labor market experience of high school dropouts four years after leaving school by sending fictitious résumés to real job postings in France. Compared to those who have stayed unemployed since leaving school, the callback rate is not raised for those with employment experience, whether it is subsidized or nonsubsidized, if there is no training accompanied by skill certification. We find no stigma effect associated with subsidized work experience. Moreover, training accompanied by skill certification improves youth prospects only when the local unemployment rate is sufficiently low, which occurs in one-fifth of the commuting zones only.

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Economics and Finance

Pierre Cahuc, Stéphane Carcillo, Andreea Minea. The Difficult School-to-Work Transition of High School Dropouts: Evidence from a Field Experiment. Journal of Human Resources, 2021, 56 (1), pp.159-183. ⟨10.3368/jhr.56.1.0617-8894R2⟩. ⟨hal-03878721⟩