The effect of schooling on worker productivity: evidence from a South African industry panel

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Periodical article

Title:	The effect of schooling on worker productivity: evidence from a South African industry panel
Authors:	Burger, Rulof P. Teal, Francis J.
Year:	2015
Periodical:	Journal of African Economies (ISSN 0963-8024)
Volume:	24
Issue:	5
Pages:	629-644
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	labour productivity schooling workers
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejv014
Abstract:	Schooling is typically found to be highly correlated with individual earnings in African countries. However, African firm- or sector-level studies have failed to identify a similarly strong effect for average worker schooling levels on productivity. This has been interpreted as evidence that schooling does not increase productivity levels, but may also indicate that the schooling effect cannot be identified when using a schooling measure with limited variation. Using a novel industry-level dataset from South Africa, that spans a longer period than typical firm-level panels, this article identifies a large and significant schooling effect. This result is highly robust across different estimators that allow for correlated industry effects, measurement error, heterogeneous production technologies and cross-sectional dependence. Bibliogr., notes, sum. [Journal abstract]