measuring the outputs and outcomes of vocational training

10
available. There is still scope for further analysis and for generating new indicators, especially on
outputs of learning and attitudes towards learning. The coverage of data will be comparable with the
forthcoming surveys (e.g. AES) and proxies for participation by field of study could become available
following the revision of the LFS coding of ISCED 3C.
The European Community Household Panel (ECHP) is the EU survey that provides information
on issues like a household’s income and poverty level. The survey was carried out between 1994 and
2001. Some of the ECHP variables have been used to generate statistics and indicators on outputs of
vocational training (e.g. participation in vocational training by type of programme or by objective of
training) which, crossed with the socio-demographic background variables, have shown interesting
results. One weakness of the survey is that it follows the ISCED 76 levels of education which restricts
the comparability with the following surveys using ISCED 97 and different fields of study. ECHP
data show firstly that training and investment in research and development are complementary, but the
degree of complementarity is lower for graduates from college, and secondly that when schooling is
more comprehensive, graduates from high-schools require less training to adapt to technical progress
(Bassanini et al., 2005). From 2003 ECHP was replaced by a survey on income and living conditions
(EU-SILC). This survey will provide information on an annual basis on outputs of vocational training
(such as educational attainment levels) which could again be crossed with background variables.
There are at least two important strengths of EU-SILC; the first related to the possibility of getting
cross-sectional and longitudinal variables related to current activity status (i.e. current main job, including
information on the last main job for the unemployed). The second advantage of EU-SILC is
the possibility of running ad-hoc modules (as in the LFS) in order to gather additional information on
a specific topic. Three ad-hoc modules are already planned in the EU-SILC: intergenerational transfer
of poverty (reference year 2005), social protection (reference year 2006), and housing inadequacy
(reference year 2007). There is scope to run a specific ad-hoc module on household expenditure on
vocational training in 2009 which, along with the LFS ad-hoc module that will be carried out in the
same year on entry of young people into the labour market, would be a rich source of information on
outcomes of vocational training.
The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) is an individual survey which was carried out by
the OECD and Statistics Canada in the 1990s. Data is available only for some EU Member States:
Ireland, the Netherlands and Poland (reference year 1994); Belgium (Flanders only) and the United
Kingdom (reference year 1998); the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland and Hungary (reference year
1998). The coverage of training includes training offered to employees in the past twelve months and
includes details on the three most recent courses. These details refer to duration, purpose, financing,
training provider, etc.). In the survey a distinction was made between job- or career-related training
and training for other purposes. Furthermore, training courses were divided into seven mutually exclusive
categories, based on level of education and type of programme. IALS and its follow-up (Adult