Publication: Trends and Linkages in Schooling and Work among Cambodian Youth: A Cohort Panel Analysis
Loading...
Files in English
341 downloads
Published
2017-03-28
ISSN
Date
2019-05-06
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Cambodia’s education sector has faced and overcome a number of challenges in recent history. Several decades of political and social unrest caused by the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s and Vietnamese occupation in the 1980’s dealt a severe blow to the education system and left it in a state of disintegration. Primary and secondary enrollment through to the 1980’s fell, with school attendance dramatically lower for individuals who were teenagers in 1975 compared to previous or subsequent cohorts (de Walque, 2004). There were improvements by the following decade: The Paris Agreements and beginnings of UN sponsored elections ushered in a renewed focus on building and reconstructing schools and increasing the national budget allocation toward education, which reached 15.7 percent in 2001 (GAD/C 2002). Recent generations of youth enjoy greater access to schooling than previous ones; 49 percent of youth finish their education at a level higher than their father and 63 percent finish at a level higher than their mother (ILO, 2013). Net primary enrollments increased from 84 percent in 1992 to 96.4 percent in 2012, and net secondary enrollments from 16.6 percent in 2000 to 35 percent in 2012 (Tandon and Fukao, 2015). The labor market in Cambodia also went through a transformation in part due tostrong economic growth for the last two decades: salaried employment rose one-third in this period from 23 percent in 2004 to 30 percent in 2011 (ILO, 2013). As of 2015, Cambodia has attained the lower-middle-income status, with gross national income (GNI) per capita reaching US$1,070. Section one presents the data, a general overview of the cohort panel approach, and initial visual evidence on and discussion of cross-cohort patterns. Section two presents methods and results from our empirical exercise disentangling cohort versus age and time effects. Here we are able to get a more accurate insight into our first objective. Section three uses a regression analysis framework to present evidence on the relationship between early cohort experiences and labor adult labor market outcomes, our second objective. Section four concludes.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Huang, Haijing; Filmer, Deon; Fukao, Tsuyoshi. 2017. Trends and Linkages in Schooling and Work among Cambodian Youth: A Cohort Panel Analysis. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31621 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Trends and Linkages in Schooling and Work Among Cambodian Youth(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-10-30)During the decades following the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970’s and Vietnamese occupation in the 80’s, the Cambodian government focused on rebuilding what had been destroyed during that time. There was a renewed focus on the education sector: the 90’s and 2000’s saw large-scale reconstruction of schools and policies which increased access to schooling. Reports estimating schooling outcomes have found corresponding increases in schooling enrollment. To add to existing literature we analyze 11 years of nationally-representative cross-sectional data in a new way: using a cohort panel approach developed by Deaton in his 1985 paper (Deaton 1985). We construct a panel of 19 cohorts spanning birth years 1980 to 1998 and estimate their life cycle trajectories as these cohorts aged from youth into early adulthood. This approach allows us to control for contemporaneous time effects and trace out the smoothed cohort and age trends in schooling and work outcomes. We answer the question “For a given age, have schooling and work outcomes improved or declined with more recent versus older cohorts? Are there differences in improvement or decline when comparing males versus females, rural versus urban youth?” Using the variation in experiences across cohorts, we are additionally able provide evidence on how early youth experiences translate to outcomes later in life.Publication Incentivizing Schooling for Learning : Evidence on the Impact of Alternative Targeting Approaches(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-07)This paper evaluates a primary school scholarship program in Cambodia with two different targeting mechanisms, one based on poverty level and the other on baseline test scores ("merit"). Both targeting mechanisms increased enrollment and attendance. However, only the merit-based targeting induced positive effects on test scores. The paper shows that the asymmetry of response is unlikely to have been driven by differences between recipients' characteristics. Higher student and family effort among beneficiaries of the merit-based scholarships suggest that the framing of the scholarship mattered for impact. The results suggest that in order to balance equity and efficiency, a two-step targeting approach might be preferable: first, target low-income individuals, and then, among them, target based on merit.Publication School Enrollment, Selection and Test Scores(2009-07-01)There is a strong association between schooling attained and test scores in many settings. If this association is causal, one might expect that programs that increase school enrollment and attainment would also improve test scores. However, if there is self-selection into school based on expected gains, marginal children brought into school by such programs may be drawn disproportionately from the left-hand side of the ability distribution, which could limit the extent to which additional schooling translates into more learning. To test this proposition, this paper uses data from Cambodia. The results show that a program that provides scholarships to poor students had a large effect on school enrollment and attendance, which increased by approximately 25 percentage points. However, there is no evidence that, 18 months after the scholarships were awarded, recipient children did any better on mathematics and vocabulary tests than they would have in the absence of the program. The paper discusses results that suggest that the self-selection of lower-ability students into school in response to the program is an important part of the explanation. The analysis also shows minimal program effects on other outcomes, including knowledge of health practices, expectations about the future, and adolescent mental health.Publication Out-of-School Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Policy Perspective(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015-02-27)The economic and social prospects are daunting for the 89 million out-of-school youth who comprise nearly half of all youth in Sub-Saharan Africa. Within the next decade, when this cohort becomes the core of the labor market, an estimated 40 million more youth will drop out, and will face an uncertain future with limited work and life skills. Furthermore, out-of-school youth often are policy orphans, positioned between sectors with little data, low implementation capacity, lack of interest in long-term sustainability of programs, insufficient funds, and little coordination across the different government agencies. This report provides a diagnostic analysis of the state of out-of-school youth in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the 12- to 24-year-old cohort. This report also examines the decision path youth take as they progress through the education system and the factors that explain youth's school and work choices. It finds that individual and household characteristics, social norms, and characteristics of the school system all matter in understanding why youth drop out and remain out of school. In particular, six key factors characterize out-of-school youth: (i) most out-of-school youth drop out before secondary school; (ii) early marriage for female youth and (iii) rural residence increase the likelihood of being out of school; (iv) parental education level and (v) the number of working adults are important household factors; and (vi) lack of school access and low educational quality are binding supply-side constraints. Policy discussions on out-of-school youth are framed by these six key factors along with three entry points for intervention: retention, remediation, and integration. This report also reviews policies and programs in place for out-of-school youth across the continent. Ultimately, this report aims to inform public discussion, policy formulation, and development practitioners' actions working with youth in Sub-Saharan Africa.Publication The Impact of Vocational Schooling on Human Capital Development in Developing Countries(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-08)A number of developing countries are currently promoting vocational education and training (VET) as a way to build human capital and strengthen economic growth. The primary aim of this study is to understand whether VET at the high school level contributes to human capital development in one of those countries—China. To fulfill this aim, a longitudinal data on more than 10,000 students in vocational high school (in the most popular major, computing) and academic high school from two provinces of China are used. First, estimates from instrumental variables and matching analyses show that attending vocational high school (relative to academic high school) substantially reduces math skills and does not improve computing skills. Second, heterogeneous effect estimates also show that attending vocational high school increases dropout, especially among disadvantaged (low-income or low-ability) students. Third, vertically scaled (equated) baseline and follow-up test scores are used to measure gains in math and computing skills among the students. The results show that students who attend vocational high school experience absolute reductions in math skills. Taken together, the findings suggest that the rapid expansion of vocational schooling as a substitute for academic schooling can have detrimental consequences for building human capital in developing countries such as China.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Ukraine Country Environmental Analysis(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-01)The objective of the Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) is to assess the adequacy and performance of the policy, legal, and institutional framework for environmental management in Ukraine, in light of the decentralization process of environmental governance and wider reform objectives, and to provide recommendations to government to address the key gaps identified. Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe and has a population of 43 million, the majority of whom live in urban areas. It is a lower middle income country, with the services, industry and agriculture sectors being main contributors to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Ukraine faces a number of environmental challenges, as identified in its National Environmental Strategy 2020 (NES). Key among these are: air pollution; quality of water resources and land degradation; solid waste management; biodiversity loss; human health issues associated with environmental risk factors; in addition to climate change. The scope of Ukrainian environmental legislation is quite broad and comprehensive (more than 300 legal acts) and covers most areas of environmental protection and natural resources management. However, the environmental legislation faces a number of weaknesses:The environmental legislation is largely declaratory in nature and does not have all the essential enforcement mechanisms for the implementation of legal acts and international agreements; Many of the acts are not coordinated with each other; and Legislation undergoes limited analysis of its impact—for example, no in-depth analysis such as Regulatory Impact Analysis is conducted for proposed pieces of legislation.Publication Regional Poverty and Inequality Update: Latin America and the Caribbean, October 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-10-23)This brief summarizes recent facts related to poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) using the latest wave of harmonized household surveys from the Socio-Economic Database for LAC (SEDLAC). This brief was produced by the Poverty Global Practice in the LAC Region of the World Bank.Publication Thailand Monthly Economic Monitor, October 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-10-22)Fiscal conditions remained stable, with a modest widening of the deficit to 3.1 percent of GDP. New stimulus measures are expected to support short-term demand without breaching the public debt ceiling. Inflation stayed negative, reflecting lower energy and food prices amid subdued domestic demand. The central bank kept the policy rate unchanged, citing limited policy space. Thailand’s growth momentum has slowed further as manufacturing activity and services weakened as projected. Tourism remained subdued, largely due to fewer Chinese visitors. Goods exports also slowed as earlier front-loaded orders faded, particularly in agriculture and industrial goods. The Thai baht depreciated in early October as the US dollar appreciated and the current account turned negative.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Rural Non-Farm Employment in Rajasthan(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-04)This paper examines rural non-farm employment in Rajasthan, India, using multiple surveys and administrative data. The analysis covers three key aspects: individual and district-level determinants of participation in non-farm activities, the relationship between non-farm employment and household welfare, and barriers faced by rural enterprises. The findings show that secondary education strongly predicts participation in non-farm activities, particularly in skilled service sector jobs. However, women and socially marginalized groups face significant barriers in accessing non-farm employment, especially in higher-paying occupations. Households with members in regular non-farm employment, particularly in services, show significantly higher consumption levels, while casual non-farm work yields welfare levels similar to agricultural labor. Rural enterprises face multiple constraints, with lack of local demand and limited access to credit emerging as key barriers to business performance. The results suggest that although non-farm employment can substantially improve household welfare, access to better-paying opportunities remains highly unequal. Policy interventions should ad-dress both human capital development and structural barriers to create more inclusive access to non-farm employment opportunities.