Education, Access to Better Quality Work and Gender: Lessons from the Kagera Panel Data Set

Abstract

For many decades the worldwide expansion of supply and demand for skilled work has been at the heart of economic growth and development. In this paper, we use the 1991–2010 panel data from the Kagera Health and Development Survey in North West Tanzania to examine the work outcomes at the end of the panel of those who were young (7 to 24 years) in the baseline. First, we illustrate the significant extent to which advanced education and skilled work go hand in hand. We analyse specifically the baseline household factors enabling individuals to access more advanced education, and we find quite different results by gender. We then analyse, again by gender, how this education plus baseline characteristics matter for attaining skilled or professional work. We also study the importance of migration in the process and the degree of intergenerational mobility in skilled work. The results show vividly how some key household factors help young men advance in their education and career, while childcare in particular retards the progress young women can make.