Information in the Labour Market: Job-Worker Matching and Its Implications for Education in Ontario (Heritage)

This study uses a simple model of information gathering to generate policy recommendations concerning education in Ontario, especially at the post-secondary level. The schools are viewed as helping students discover jobs matched to their abilities, and policy prescriptions are offered from that standpoint. After examining earlier economic models of education – seeing it in terms of human capital and signalling – the authors analyse their informational model. In the light of the three theories of education, they then proceed to examine the appropriate role of government in the education market, and offer their policy recommendations. In addition, trends in the structure of education over the last two decades are studied and explained from the economic point of view. They argue that too much has been spent on formal education and not enough on on-the-job-training, but the answer is not more government intervention or vocationalism. Education policy should encourage free choice and an increasing ability to match interests or skills with jobs. Vocationalism merely hinders the latter and endangers economic well-being in the long term. From the back cover: This study uses a simple model of information gathering to generate policy recommendations concerning education in Ontario, especially at the post-secondary level. The schools are viewed as helping students discover jobs matched to their abilities, and policy prescriptions are offered from that standpoint. After examining earlier economic models of education - seeing it in terms of human capital and signalling - the authors analyse their informational model. In the light of the three theories of education, they then proceed to examine the appropriate role of government in the education market, and offer their policy recommendations. In addition, trends in the structure of education over the last two decades are studied and explained from the economic point of view. They argue that too much has been spent on formal education and not enough on on-the-job-training, but the answer is not more government intervention or vocationalism. Education policy should encourage free choice and an increasing ability to match interests or skills with jobs. Vocationalism merely hinders the latter and endangers economic well-being in the long term Contents 5 Acknowledgments 7 1. Introduction 9 2. Earlier models of education: human capital and signalling 18 3. The informational model of schooling and job-worker matching 43 4. Education and training policy: basic guidelines 78 5. Education and training in Canada: recent trends and the current situation 105 6. Education and training in Canada: current issues 142 7. Policy conclusions 168 Appendix 181 Bibliography 193 James B. Davies And Glenn M. Macdonald. Bibliography: P. [185]-190.