Occupational breaks, their incidence and implications for training provision Case‐study evidence from the national longitudinal survey of youth

Detailed education, employment and training histories have been constructed for a cohort of 440 male respondents from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The employment histories show that most respondents without college degrees have experienced at least one occupational break since entering the labour force. The training histories show that most of those in employment in 1992 have had no formal training for their current occupations. An assessment of whether those who received training before or on entering the labour force have subsequently had more stable employment histories than those who have not shows that this is true of college‐level vocational education but not of high school vocational education or training received in vocational/technical institutes. These findings suggest that the comprehensive provision of entry‐level training for those not college‐bound, as advocated by those promoting vocational education in high schools, cannot be justified in terms of labour market outcomes.