the effect of education and skills on volunteering, trust and ......civic and social engagement in...

The effect of education and skills on

volunteering, trust and political

efficacy:

Evidence from PIAAC on the EU

Patricia Costa, Margarida Rodrigues,

Esperanza Vera-Toscano and Anke Weber

http://crell.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

Motivation

• Social benefits from education

• Understanding the social outcomes of learning (Behrman and Stacey, 1997; McMahon, 1998, 2000; OECD, 2001; Schuller et al., 2004; Desjardin and Schuller, 2006)

Education

Civic and social

engagement outcomes

Well-being

• personal • social • economic

Political efficacy

Social trust

Volunteering

Motivation

• The analyses so far has concentrated on schooling, primarily because this is where data are most readily available.

Education

Civic and social

engagement outcomes

Well-being

• Schooling • Skills • Adult lifelong learning

• personal • social • economic

Political efficacy

Social trust

Volunteering

Motivation Survey of Adult Skills 2013 (PIAAC)

- OECD - European Commission - International

Consortium led by Educational Testing Service (ETS)

- Participating countries

First survey including data on skills and social outcomes

Purpose of paper Improve our understanding of the relationship between

education, skills, adult lifelong learning and civic and social engagement outcomes, i.e. volunteering, social trust, political efficacy

Programme for the International Assessment of Adult

Competencies (PIAAC) is an international survey that measures

key cognitive and workplace skills needed for individuals to

participate in society and for economies to prosper.

PIAAC survey

Conducted in 24 countries (about 5000 individuals were

involved in each participating country).

Implemented in adults aged 16 to 65, interviewed in their

homes.

The survey assessed:

- literacy skills

- numeracy skills

- the ability to solve problems

in technology-rich environments

PIAAC survey

Measured on a scale

from 0 to 500 points

divided into skills

levels

from below 1 to 5 for literacy and numeracy

from below 1 to 3 for problem solving

The skills are “key information-processing competencies” and

are relevant to adults in many social contexts and work

situations, and necessary for fully integrating and

participating in the labour market, education and training, and

social and civic life.

PIAAC survey

Contextual questionnaires

EU participating countries

Country Frequency Country Frequency

Austria 5130 United Kingdom 8892

Belgium 5463 Ireland 5983

Cyprus 5053 Italy 4621

Czech Republic 6102 Netherlands 5170

Germany 5465 Norway 5128

Denmark 7328 Poland 9366

Spain 6055 Slovak Republic 5723

Estonia 7632 Sweden 4469

Finland 5464

PIAAC EU participating countries

Among EU countries, roughly three groups can be

identified:

countries with high shares of top performing

adults and low levels of low performers like the

Netherlands, Finland and Sweden;

countries with varying patterns but whose results are

not significantly different;

countries with few top performers and very high

shares of low performers such as Spain and Italy.

Civic and Social Engagement in PIAAC

Political efficacy Volunteering Social Trust


Political efficacy


Political efficacy

Variable in PIAAC relates to internal political efficacy Internal efficacy refers to “beliefs about one’s own competence to understand and to participate effectively in politics” (Craig et al., 1990, p.290). Internal efficacy measures the extent to which citizens feel sovereign to influence the political system. This does not necessarily depend on the quality of those institutions but rather refers to the abilities of the citizen.


Volunteering


Social Trust


Social Trust

Variable in PIAAC relates to Trust in other people or interpersonal trust Trust in other people is central to the concept of social capital, as it serves as the driver for reciprocity and growth (Fukuyama, 1995; Hardin, 2002; Inglehart, 1990, 1997; Putnam, 1993, 2000; Uslaner, 2002). It is an indispensable asset for the economic activity, due to its ability to promote cooperation and to improve the efficiency of markets (Arrow, 1974).


Social Trust The bedrock of democracy

• Education has been proven to have a universally positive effect on all forms of engagement (Converse, 1972; Almond and Verba, 1989; Marsh and Kaase, 1979; Putnam, 2000...).

• Individual skills

-> Skills enable people to better understand the motives and aspirations of others. -> Skills forge trust by fostering lasting relationships with the aim of accomplishing mutually rewarding outcomes.


Volunteering

highly educated or skilled individuals have, on average, higher opportunity cost of time, as they are more likely to be employed and to have higher hourly wages. This would translate into less volunteer work.

highly educated or skilled individuals may face higher probability of being invited to do this type of work and may do it with less effort with respect to lower educated counterparts (Wilson, 2000), which would translate into more volunteer work.

Highly skilled individuals more likely to volunteer (OECD and HRDC, 1997 using IALS)

Not a clear pattern


Political efficacy

On the one hand, highly educated or skilled individuals have, on average, higher opportunity cost of time, as they are more likely to be employed and to have higher hourly wages. This would translate into less volunteer work. On the other hand, highly educated or skilled individuals may face higher probability of being invited to do this type of work and may do it with less effort with respect to lower educated counterparts (Wilson, 2000), which would translate into more volunteer work. Therefore, from a theoretical point of view, there is no clear relation between education, skills and volunteer work. Which of these two mechanisms wins may depend on the volunteer tasks, individual preferences and other contextualizing factors. It some instances, education may have a curvilinear relation to volunteering (Thompson, 1993).

Highly educated individuals seem to exhibit higher levels of political efficacy (cf. Hayes and Bean, 1993; and Baker, 1973).

Only education, i.e. number of years of education or highest education level attained, and not skills are measured

Education is strongly related to political participation, i.e. educated individuals are more aware of the importance of becoming politically involved and have also the financial means to participate actively to politics (Brady et al., 1995). Political efficacy Political participation: higher political efficacy increases political participation and in turn higher political participation enhances the level of political efficacy (Brady et al., 1995; Clarke and Acock, 1989; Finkel, 1987; Powell, 1986; Pollock, 1983; and Baker, 1973).

Adult skills vs Political efficacy

Same relationship in:

- Numeracy

- Problem Solving

Adult skills vs Voluntary work


- Numeracy

- Problem Solving

Adult skills vs Trust – other people take advantage


- Numeracy

- Problem Solving

Adult skills vs Educational level


- Numeracy

- Problem Solving

Methodology

Estimate a series of reduced form (ordered) probit models

Education Skills: Literacy Numeracy Problem Solving

Adult Lifelong learning Socio-economic,

demographic and regional dummies

Complex survey design accounted for by using replicate weights and plausible values

Methodology: Educational related variables

Varname Definition

Formal

Education

Educlow Education Level – Low

Educmedium Education Level – Medium

Educhigh Education Level - High

Skills level

Pvlit11/Pvnum1

/Pvsl1

Literacy/Numeracy/Problem Solving Scale Score – Plausible value 1

(<225)

Pvlit12/Pvnum2

/Pvsl2

Literacy/Numeracy/Problem Scale Score – Plausible value 1

(225-275)

Pvlit13/

Pvnum3/Pvsl3


(275-325)

Pvlit14/

Pvnum4/Pvsl4


(>325)

Adult

Education

ALL If participated in formal or non-formal AET in 12 months preceding

the survey

Methodology: Other socioeconomic and demographic vars. Varname Definition

Age

Age 1624 Individuals aged 16-24





Gender Female Yes if female

Marital status Married Yes if married or cohabiting

Family status Children Yes if young children in the household

Socioeconomic

status

Parentseducated Highest level of education of any of the parents/guardians

Migrants If not born in the country

Occ_skill If employed in Professional occupation

Occ_white If employed in Semi-professional, white collar occupation

Occ_blue If employed in Semi-professional, blue collar occupation

Occ_elem If employed in Unskilled occupation

Unemployed If unemployed

Inactive If inactive

Civic

participation

readnewspapers If read newspaper at least once a week or every day

27 10 December 2013

Pooled EU dataset

DV: Social trust

Literacy skills Numeracy Problem

solving

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

Education Education

+ Skills

Education

+ Skills +

ALL

Education +

Skills +

ALL

Education

+ Skills +

ALL1)

Education

level Medium 1.232

(10.45)

1.153

(6.762)

1.147

(6.524)

1.135

(6.048)

1.149

(5.792)

High 2.034

(26.3)

1.738

(20.48)

1.694

(19.52)

1.679

(19.19)

1.777

(18.55)

Skills level:

literacy,

numeracy or

problem

solving

Skills level 2

1.122

(4.6)

1.11

(4.16)

1.203

(8.043)

1.162

(5.769)

Skills level 3

1.528

(16.31)

1.495

(15.46)

1.565

(18.67)

1.474

(14.92)

Skills level

4+5

2.004

(21.06)

1.948

(20.21)

1.946

(21.48)

1.898

(18.85)

Adult lifelong

learning ALL

1.23

(12.18)

1.232

(12.29)

1.242

(11.42)

Common pattern:

Having educated parents, being non-migrant, reading newspaper, and

having a high-skilled job increases likelihood of volunteering, trusting

others and believing to have an influence on the government

Individual characteristics, i.e. gender, married, having children, age

different effects for the three social outcomes

next explore if any country-specific effects

Results

29 10 December 2013

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Sk

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ve

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.5 1 1.5 2 2.5Odds-ratio of skills for political efficacy

R-squared=0.495

Effect of skills on political efficacy

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.5 1 1.5 2 2.5Odds-ratio of skills for volunteering

R-squared=0.322

Effect of skills on volunteering

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Sk

ills le

ve

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0 1 2 3 4Odds-ratio of skills for trust

R-squared=0.342

Effect of skills on trust

- Only significant odds-ratios are shown -

30 10 December 2013

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Cluster of countries for high skilled individuals

After controlling for a wide range of covariates, we find that

education, skills levels and ALL are significantly related to social

outcomes

There is substantial variation by country for skills levels 4+5, so

far not explained by other covariates Future work needed

Common patterns for all three social outcomes Future work to

see if there is a latent concept behind three social outcomes

Conclusions

APPENDIX

32 10 December 2013

33 10 December 2013

DV: Volunteering

Literacy Numeracy

Problem

Solving

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

Education Education

+ Skills

Education

+ Skills +

ALL

Education +

Skills + ALL

Education

+ Skills +

ALL1)

Education

level

Medium 1.305 1.228 1.212 1.201 1.191

(10.136) (7.698) (7.107) (6.702) (6.029)

High 1.745 1.549 1.444 1.438 1.465

(18.097) (13.894) (11.557) (11.344) (10.990)

Skills level:

literacy,

numeracy or

problem

solving

Skills level 2 1.187 1.166 1.195 1.177

(5.580) (4.992) (5.917) ( 5.501)

Skills level 3 1.443 1.385 1.421 1.341

(11.409) (10.030) (11.197) (9.651)

Skills level

4-5

1.683 1.591 1.623 1.662

(12.752) (11.310) (12.482) (12.791)

Adult Lifelong

Learning

ALL 1.698 1.703 1.665

(25.872) (26.034) (22.347)

34 10 December 2013

DV: Volunteering

Literacy

Numeracy Problem Solving

(3) (4) (5)

Education + Skills + ALL Education + Skills + ALL Education + Skills + ALL1)

Basic

characteristics

age1624 0.904 0.906 0.950

(2.767) (2.703) (1.265)

age2534 0.734 0.738 0.713

(10.793) (10.575) (10.309)

age4554 1.112 1.105 1.145

(3.915) (3.685) (4.300)

age5564 1.142 1.128 1.149

(4.576) (4.175) (4.221)

female 0.909 0.930 0.909

(4.951) (3.749) (4.449)

married 1.032 1.028 1.045

(1.418) (1.240) (1.800)

children 1.094 1.091 1.107

(3.544) (3.425) (3.573)

SES

parentseducated 1.122 1.120 1.104

(4.806) (4.693) (3.546)

migrant 0.780 0.782 0.784

(5.264) (5.181) (4.189)

occ_skill 1.179 1.170 1.176

(5.882) (5.568) (5.179)

occ_white 0.970 0.967 0.996

(1.076) (1.167) (0.135)

occ_blue 0.971 0.961 0.982

(0.883) (1.210) (0.501)

occ_elem 0.831 0.834 0.876

(3.769) (3.697) (2.396)

unempl 0.953 0.958 0.933

(1.086) (0.987) (1.325)

Civic

participation

readnewspaper 1.381 1.382 1.387

(12.785) (12.837) (11.019)

35 10 December 2013

DV: Political efficacy Literacy skills Numerac

y

Problem

solving

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

Education Education

+ Skills

Education

+ Skills +

ALL

Education

+ Skills +

ALL

Education

+ Skills +

ALL1)

Education

level

Medium 1.309

(13.543)

1.238

(10.577)

1.238

(10.542)

1.234

(10.345)

1.271

(10.593)

High 1.926

(26.500)

1.693

(20.643)

1.653

(19.651)

1.664

(19.826)

1.736

(19.104)

Skills level:

literacy,

numeracy or

problem

solving

Skills level 2

1.092

(3.683)

1.082

(3.268)

1.139

(5.809)

1.186

(6.843)

Skills level 3

1.423

(13.684)

1.392

(12.813)

1.389

(13.420)

1.451

(14.848)

Skills level 4-

5

1.811

(18.504)

1.757

(17.569)

1.619

(15.892)

1.882

(18.884)

Adult

Lifelong

Learning

ALL

1.235

(12.628)

1.242

(12.919)

1.243

(11.586)

36 10 December 2013

DV: Political efficacy Literacy skills Numeracy Problem solving

(3) (4) (5)

Education + Skills +

ALL


ALL


ALL1)

Basic characteristics

Age1624 1.178

(5.819)

1.189

(6.180)

1.104

(3.123)

Age2534 0.997

(-0.119)

1.005

(0.215)

0.963

(-1.476)

Age4554 1.020

(0.938)

1.011

(0.503)

1.036

(1.450)

Age5564 1.009

(0.386)

0.992

(-0.369)

1.030

(1.115)

Female 1.004

(0.265)

1.027

(1.772)

1.026

(1.506)

Married 1.007

(0.409)

1.006

(0.310)

1.020

(1.018)

Children 0.947

(-2.712)

0.942

(-2.999)

0.935

(-3.002)

SES

Parentseducated 1.094

(4.829)

1.095

(4.824)

1.111

(4.859)

Migrant 0.935

(-1.743)

0.922

(-2.090)

0.945

(-1.167)

Occ_skilled 1.108

(4.478)

1.110

(4.517)

1.121

(4.366)

Occ_white 0.920

(-3.595)

0.920

(-3.586)

0.916

(-3.330)

Occ_blue 0.814

(-7.986)

0.804

(-8.467)

0.777

(-8.539)

Occ_elem 0.797

(-6.325)

0.796

(-6.383)

0.791

(-5.740)

unemployed 0.894

(-3.143)

0.898

(-3.004)

0.896

(-2.594)

Civic participation Readnewspaper 1.274

(13.027)

1.279

(13.347)

1.322

(12.968)

37 10 December 2013

DV: Social trust Literacy skills Numeracy Problem solving

(3) (4) (5)

Education + Skills + ALL Education + Skills +

ALL


ALL

Basic characteristics Age1624 0.999

(-0.03)

1.009

(0.281)

0.964

(-1.03)

Age2534 0.888

(-4.96)

0.892

(-4.56)

0.84

(-6.21)

Age4554 1.068

(3)

1.058

(2.545)

1.047

(1.769)

Age5564 1.137

(5.333)

1.114

(4.5)

1.146

(4.857)

Female 1.166

(10.27)

1.207

(12.53)

1.229

(12.12)

Married 1.074

(3.737)

1.068

(3.474)

1.103

(4.667)

Children 0.925

(-3.71)

0.919

(-4.05)

0.918

(-3.58)

Parentseducated 1.124

(6.158)

1.121

(6)

1.119

(5.091)

Migrant 0.952

(-1.26)

0.946

(-1.34)

0.894

(-2.29)

SES Readnewspaper 1.094

(4.5)

1.096

(4.6)

1.164

(6.609)

Skilled job 1.259

(9.586)

1.252

(9.375)

1.262

(8.321)

Semi-skilled white 0.966

(-1.52)

0.965

(-1.5)

0.973

(-0.96)

Semi-skilled blue 0.918

(-3.44)

0.904

(-3.88)

0.931

(-2.45)

Unskilled 0.858

(-4.37)

0.863

(-4.2)

0.873

(-3.32)

Unemployed 0.811

(-5.86)

0.814

(-5.89)

0.82

(-4.74)

38 10 December 2013

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Clus ter of countries for high skilled individuals , wardslinkage0

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Clus ter of countries for high skilled individuals , centroidlinkage

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Clus ter of countries for high skilled individuals , waveragelinkage

the effect of education and skills on volunteering, trust and ......civic and social engagement in...

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