On the local labor market determinants of female university enrolment in European regions

We empirically investigate the local labor market determinants of female decisions of investing in post-secondary education, focusing on the role of career interruptions and barriers to job promotions. We use EU-Silc data on educational decisions of women who completed secondary schooling. We construct indicators of the regional labor market, and exploit regional and time variability to identify how female educational investments react to changes in local labor markets. We find that the share of working women with children below 5, of women with managerial positions and self-employed positively affect the probability to enrol. The same does not hold for men.