Education and earnings in a transition economy: the case of Vietnam

Major economic reforms in Vietnam since 1986 have included a number of measures to liberalize the labor market. It is too soon to assess the full impact of these reforms, but this paper represents a first attempt to analyze the returns to education, establishing a benchmark for future work. On average the estimates of rates of return are relatively low, which is not surprising since salary reforms were not introduced until 1993. Private rates of return to primary and university education average 13 and 11%, but only 4 to 5% at secondary and vocational levels. Returns to higher education are higher for females (12%) than for males (10%). (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.