Returns in wage and employment from test scores: evidence from Vietnamese National University entrance exams 2009 and household data 2018–2020

ABSTRACT

We examine the returns to test scores from the 2009 Vietnamese National Entrance Examination to University (NEEU) of individuals born in 1991. We investigate their labour outcomes in terms of hourly wage and employment measured in 2018 or 2020. We find that a one standard deviation increase in the standardized test score on the NEEU is associated with a 9% increase in wage rate 9–11 years later. The results also suggest that mathematics test scores have a significant correlation with labour outcomes in the long run.

KEYWORDS:

• Test scores
• cognitive skills
• returns to education
• Vietnam

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• J24
• I26
• J23

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) KAKENHI Grant Numbers 18K01580, 19H00619, 20H01506, and 21K01455.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Source: Figure III-2-5 from https://www.mext.go.jp/component/english/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2011/03/07/1303013_007.pdf.

² Both use discontinuity in the cut-off test score to identify the effect of elite schools.

³ We used the individually identifiable information in the datasets for matching.

⁴ See Vu (2022) for a description of the NEEU data.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) KAKENHI Grant Numbers 18K01580, 19H00619, 20H01506, and 21K01455.