For decades, Spain has suffered extremely high unemployment rates, but the youth unemployment rate (from 16 to 24 years) which in 2022 was situated at 30% – in other words, 2.6 times the adult rate – is the worst of all. Catalonia, in particular, has less youth unemployment (24%), but it represents 2.9 times the adult rate. Together with other indicators, such as high seasonality or low wages, these figures reveal serious problems for the labour market insertion of young people.

In European countries with Dual Vocational Education and Training (Dual VET) systems, such as Austria and Germany, young people enjoy a better employment situation. In this type of VET, students spend more time as apprentices in companies than in Standard or School-based VET, and the companies themselves take charge of part of the training. With a view to facilitating the labour market insertion of young people, Spain introduced Dual VET in 2012. This research analyses the impact of Tertiary Dual VET on the labour market insertion of young people in Catalonia in the period 2018-2020.

There is an abundant descriptive evidence that suggests that Dual VET has positive effects on labour market insertion, but hardly any causal evidence in this respect (European Commission, 2013). Moreover, the experimental evidence is not conclusive (Alfonsi et al., 2020; Katz et al., 2022). Taking into account possible biases in the estimation of such effects, derived from unobserved characteristics of students, schools and companies, is a priority for this research, which also investigates the mechanisms that explain the better labour market performance and the role of non-cognitive abilities of the students.

Dual VET has experienced very slow growth since its introduction in Spain in 2012. In the academic year 2020-2021, it did not represent more than 5.5% of students enrolled. Catalonia stands above Spain’s national average, with 10% of students enrolled – such that it exceeds the 8% of Madrid – and, in the academic year 2019-2020, it accounted for 14.5% of those who graduated.

This research analyses a sample of 18,195 graduates from Tertiary VET fields offered in the Dual and School-based tracks in Catalonia during the academic years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. Of these, 2,147 graduated in Dual VET (11.8%) and 16,048 in School-based VET.

Graduates of Dual VET and those of School-based VET are very similar, although they present some differences. Specifically, among the Dual VET graduates, there is a lower proportion of female students and a slightly higher fraction of students born outside of Spain. They also possess greater labour market experience prior to starting their studies. Furthermore, Dual VET is taught with greater frequency at public schools than private schools, in comparison with School-based VET.

To analyse labour market insertion, various indicators of work quantity and quality during the twelve months following student graduation are used. 

Firstly, it is observed that Dual VET graduates work 27 days more per year (some 14% more). To take into account part-time work, a more homogenous measure is employed: Full-time equivalent days worked. This definition shows the low intensity of the work of young people during their first year: 168 days, in other words, 46% of the potential 365 days. With this measure, the difference in favour of Dual VET rises to 41 days (some 25% more).

Secondly, it is confirmed that 11.1% of Dual VET graduates do not work during the first year, versus 10.3% of School-based VET graduates. Upon restricting the analysis to those who work, it is observed that Dual VET graduates have a lower probability of working part-time (20 percentage points less) and a higher probability of signing a permanent contract (5 percentage points more). 

VET graduates receive a low labour income (8,354 euros on average), which in 2019 only represented two thirds of the annual minimum wage. This being said, Dual VET graduates earn 28% more than School-based VET graduates. The difference is exclusively due to the fact that they work more days, since the average daily wage is very similar across tracks.

The distribution by month of the days worked in a year indicates that the main difference between Dual VET and School-based VET does not come from those who work a few days, but from those who work practically all year round, probably in their internship company.

Such differences in work performance are statistically significant. Consequently, we can say that Dual VET is related to better labour market insertion, in terms of days of work, annual labour income, and types of contract alike. However, we will study whether these differences persist or, to the contrary, a convergence between tracks takes place after the first year has elapsed.

The better work performance by Dual VET graduates shown above refers to the average of all the fields analysed, but the differences are not uniform. There are fields in which, on average, the Dual VET graduates work 70 days more than the School-based VET graduates, and other fields in which they work 50 days less.

These differences do not necessarily reflect the degree of matching between the training received and the needs in terms of jobs in each area. The reason is that, at the start of their professional career and for various reasons, VET graduates do not always obtain a job that matches their field of study.

The differences in the results between tracks may stem from many causes. To isolate the effect of the track from the effect that personal characteristics may have, a statistical estimation (linear regression) is carried out, in which the following variables are taken into account: sex, foreign nationality, age at graduation, prior work experience, entry route, possession of previous Intermediate or Tertiary VET qualification, graduation cohort (2018 or 2019), field and residential postcode.

Once these characteristics are considered, the differences between tracks remain (in terms of statistical significance), but their size falls. Dual VET graduates work, on average, some 18 full-time equivaldent days more per year than School-based VET graduates, and they earn about 950 euros more per year, despite earning the same per day of work. In proportional terms, these effects amount to around 11% in both cases. The probability of having a part-time contract is 6 percentage points lower, and that of having a permanent contract, 2 percentage points higher. 

If the track of study is replaced by hours of internship at the company, we see that, per hour of internship at the company, the graduates work 0.03 more days and 0.04 full-equivalent more days. Given that Dual VET graduates spend, on average, 530 hours more at the company (937 against 407), this mechanism explains a difference between the two tracks of 16 days of work per year, or 21 full-time equivalent days.

After a decade since the introduction of Dual VET in Catalonia, it still has a minor presence: it only represents 10% of students enrolled and 14.5% of those who graduate.

A first analysis reveals that Dual VET is related to better initial labour market insertion than School-based VET. This translates into more days worked, a higher labour income and less part-time work. In the following phase, we will be study to what extent these differences have a causal nature, as revealed by a similar study for Madrid (Bentolila et al., 2023), as well as studying their persistence over time and the role played by non-cognitive abilities. 

Organic Law 3/2022, of 31 March, has restructured VET in Spain, in such a way that, from now on, all fields will be of a dual nature between the school and a company. The duration of in-company training is also extended, and can be greater (Intensive VET) or smaller (General VET). The preliminary results of this research suggest that this measure is desirable, although its potential impact will depend crucially on how it is implemented.

This article presents the preliminary results of a research project underway on Dual VET in Catalonia. It is based on the universe of students enrolled in Tertiary VET fields, with their academic and work records being merged. The final sample consists of 18,195 VET graduates in the academic years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. These estimates of the impact associated with Dual VET do not yet have a causal nature, due to the possible effect on the results of unobserved differences between the graduates of each track, which will be cleaned. This research is funded by the Social Observatory of the ”la Caixa” Foundation. The authors would like to thank the support of the Catalan Government’s Department of Education, of the Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, and of the General Council of Chambers of Catalonia, as well as the help with data processing provided by Carmen Arbaizar, Lucía Cobreros and Francisco Vale.

ALFONSI, L., O. BANDIERA, V. BASSI, et al. (2020): «Tackling Youth Unemployment: Evidence From a Labor Market Experiment in Uganda», Econometrica, 88.

BENTOLILA, S., A. CABRALES y and M. JANSEN (2023): «Does Dual Vocational Education Pay Off?», manuscript.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2013): The effectiveness and cost-benefits of apprenticeships: Results of the quantitative analysis, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Brussels.

KATZ, L., J. ROTH, R. HENDRA and K. SCHABERG (2022): «Why Do Sectoral Employment Programs Work? Lessons from WorkAdvance», Journal of Labor Economics, 40.