The impact of an adult education voucher program: Evidence from a randomized field experiment

Lifelong learning is often promoted in aging societies, but little is known about its returns or governments' ability to advance it. This paper evaluates the effects of a large-scale randomized field experiment issuing vouchers for adult education in Switzerland. We find no significant average effects of the voucher program on earnings, employment, and subsequent education 1 year after treatment. But effects are heterogeneous: low-educated individuals are most likely to profit from adult education, but least likely to use the voucher. In addition, the public voucher program appears to crowd out firm-financed training. The findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of untargeted voucher programs in promoting labor market outcomes through adult education.

► Evaluates Swiss field experiment on vouchers for adult education. ► No significant average effects on earnings, employment, and subsequent education. ► Low-education individuals most likely to profit, but least likely to use voucher. ► Public voucher program appears to crowd out firm-financed training. ► Findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of untargeted voucher programs.