Obtaining or not obtaining
a general education graduation certificate (Hauptschulabschluss)
The impact on employment, income, and lifestyle
Alexandra Kloß and Johannes Jaenicke
University of Erfurt
Research question
To what extend does a successful general school education change the life of a person
regarding
• his/her chances in working life,
• the leisure activities and
• the health status of an individual?
To what extend is the educational attainment correlated intergenerationally?
Results
1. Income
Mean net income
Net income in prices 2008
Old Laender
New Laender
Secondary general school education
3000
Secondary general school education
2000
Introduction
Additionally, we find pronounced group-specific differences in educational level of
partners and friends, leisure activities, social contacts, subjective health feeling and wellbeing and in BMI.
Obtaining a general secondary school certificate has clear positive effects on the
personal life income, health and happiness indicators as well as on the national income
and the human development index of a nation.
Theory
The human capital theory is a modern extension of Adam Smith`s explanation of wage
differentials by the so-called net (dis)advantages between different employments. The
costs of learning are an important component of net advantage. Gary S. Becker and
Jacob Mincer claim that, other things like ability and motivation being equal, personal
incomes vary according to the amount of investment in human capital, that is, the
quantity and quality of education and training undertaken by individuals or groups.
The educational decision is explained by rational or limited rational choice theory,
taking into account the social status and preferences of the family. Raymond Boudon
presents a model of social immobility. The inequality of educational opportunitiy is
explained by primary and secondary effects of social stratification. The primary effects
result from cultural capital (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1970), the secondary effects from
differences in social status cost/benefit profiles of educational choices.
References:
• Becker, G. S.(1993): Der ökonomische Ansatz zur Erklärung menschlichen Verhaltens. Mohr.
Tübingen 1993.
• Boudon, R. (1974): Education. Opportunity. and Social Inequality: Changing Prospects in
Western Society. New York et. al. : Wiley-Interscience.
• Bourdieu, P. and Passeron, J.-C. (1970): La Reproduction, Editions de Minuit, Paris.
• Mincer, J.A. (1974): Schooling. Experience. and Earnings. Columbia University Press. 1974.
• Esser, H. (1999): Soziologie. Spezielle Grundlagen. Band 1: Situationslogik und Handeln.
Frankfurt/New York. 1999.
• Schultz, T. (1992): The economic value of education. Studies in the economics of education.
Elgar Books. Aldershot.
German General Social Survey (ALLBUS/GGSS)
•Conducted biennally since 1980.
•From 1980 to 1990, the sample consisted of 3.000 West German and West Berlin
respondents.
•In 1991, 1,500 respondents were selected from the Old and 1,500 from the New
Laender, and since 1992 the sample has been weighted by population so that 2,400
interviews are conducted in the Old and 1,100 in the New Laender.
•Total of 51.416 respondents over time.
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1991 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008
1991 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008
2. Employment
Vocational training
without graduation
Secondary general
school education
Occupation
Secondary general school education
No graduation
Technical or vocational college certificate
(“Fachschulabschluss”)
Compact vocational training course
(“Teilfacharbeiterabschluß”. former East Germany)
Other vocational training certificate
Secondary general school education
No graduation
Short- time work
Not employed
Pupil. Student
University degree (“Hochschulabschluss”)
Pensioner
Polytechnic degree (or engineering college degree)
(“Fachhochschulabschluss)
Master(craftsman), technician or equivalent
college certificate (“Meister-. Techniker- oder
gleichwertiger Fachschulabschluss”)
Work placement/internship (“Berufliches
Praktikum. Volontariat”)
Specialized vocational college certificate
(“Berufsfachschulabschluss”)
Completed commercial traineeship
(“Abgeschlossene kaufmännische Lehre”)
Completed trades/crafts or agricultural
traineeship (“Abgeschlossene gewerbliche oder
landwirtschaftliche Lehre”)
No completed vocational training
Housewife.-man
Military Service/Civilian
Service
Out of work
Inactive Population
Besides employed
Regular half-time occupation
Regular full-time occupation
3. Way of Life
Type of Building
Farm building
Without
Secondary general
graduation
school education.
Old
New
Old
New
Laender Laender Laender Laender
2.0% 10.3% 6.4%
6.1%
Detached one/two family house
23.0% 23.1% 39.7%
34.5%
Terraced or semi-detached one/two
family house
10.0%
12.4%
Building with 3 or 4 flats
12.0%
7.7% 16.6%
3.8%
9.7%
Type of accomodation
7.7%
Building with 5 to 8 flats
31.0% 25.6% 16.2%
15.4%
Building with 9 or more flats (but no
more than 8 floors. i.e. not a highrise)
17.3% 20.5%
8.8%
20.4%
High-rise (9 or more floors)
3.0%
6.4%
1.2%
2.5%
Other house/building.
1.7%
2.6%
1.4%
.9%
New
Laender
Sublet
4.6%
4.8%
1.5%
3.0%
Official/company flat
1.9%
2.4%
1.6%
1.0%
Subsidised municipal housing
26.1%
36.1%
12.7%
22.7%
Rented flat
33.9%
21.2%
26.1%
27.1%
Rented house
3.8%
1.4%
3.3%
1.7%
Flat owned by the family
2.2%
.5%
4.3%
1.4%
House owned by the family
26.3%
32.2%
49.4%
40.3%
Other type of accomodation
1.3%
1.4%
1.1%
2.8%
Are watching TV daily
Are lazy daily
Old Länder:
41.7% without graduation
26.0% with secondary
general school education
Germany: 24% without
graduation and 14.5% with
secondary general school
education
16.9% of the individuals
without any graduation
certificate are in bad health
condition but just 6.5 %
with a general secondary
school certificate
Without graduation
Secondary general
school education
New
Old
Old Laender Laender Laender
Never read books
Less
weight
We find remarkable and frequently significant differences between both groups:
• the average net income increases from 924 to 1,200 Euros in prices of 2008 upon
successful graduation
• the probability of full-time occupation increases from 21.4% to 34.5% and for parttime occupation from 3.6% to 5.4%.
• the probability of unemployment in the last 10 years decreases from 28.2% to
18.3%.
without graduation
1000
Better
Health
Our empirical investigation compares the groups with and without a general education
graduation certificate looking at 25,000 respondents of the representative ALLBUS
survey interviewed between 1980 to 2008 in the Old and additionally after 1990 in the
New Laender.
without graduation
Without graduation: 219 min
(Old Länder). 242min (new
Laender);
Secondary general school
education: 177 min (Old) bzw.
227 min (New)
24.6% of the individuals without any
graduation certificate have extreme
overweight , but only 20.7% with a
general secondary school certificate.
Only 35.2% of the respondents without
graduation have a normal weight
Two-Step Cluster analysis
Using Bayesian information criterion. Including:
• socio-demographic and educational characteristics of the respondent,
• the highest school degree of his/her mother,
• the employment status of a friend,
• net income earned in prices of 2008 and the
• Treimann prestige score.
Cluster one:
•415 male respondents,
•all respondents having a general school
degree,
•average net income of 1,867 Euro (prices
2008),
•mothers with a general school certificate.
Cluster two:
•111 male and 270 female respondents,
•6.6% without a general school degree,
•average net income of 1.202 Euro (prices 2008),
•more migration background,
•more persons with no vocational degree,
•mothers education varies from no school certificate to
secondary school level I certificate.