Employment Mobility and Returns to Technical and Vocational Training: Empirical Evidence for Tanzania

This paper examines the employment mobility and returns to technical and vocational training (TVET) relative to general education in Tanzania, using data from the 2014 Integrated Labour Force Survey (ILFS). The result shows that TVET training facilitates individual transition into employment. Both in descriptive statistics and regression results, technical, on the job training, vocational and apprenticeship training are particularly important in acquiring formal employment. The results further show that, though the returns to general education (GED) and TVET are positive and statistically significant, on average those with TVET training are earning relatively less than those with general education, implying lower returns to TVET graduates compared to general education graduates. The descriptive statistics confirm this by showing that, in Tanzania, workers with a university degree earn twice those with technical training and three times those with vocational training. Two implications stand out: technical and vocational training are instrumental in addressing the rising youth unemployment; and, to make it attractive to parents and students governments across the region have to work towards raising the returns to TVET.