Youth education, employment and marriage transitions in Iran: evidence from the school to work transition survey

Daniel Egel, University of California, Berkeley
Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Iranian youth, like many young women and men of the Middle East, face myriad challenges in their education, employment and marriage transitions. Understanding these transitions and the institutional factors that affect them, which is the focus of this paper, is essential in designing policies to help youth mediate them. Using the Iranian School to Work Transition Survey (SWTS) we analyze the variety of personal, familial and institutional factors that affect the transitions of youth through education, employment and marriage. Analysis is done separately for men and women to highlight how these factors affect the genders differently. We find strong gender differences in the impact of familial background on educational achievement, employment outcomes and timing of marriage. This likely reflects the importance of role models of the same gender as well as inter-household bargaining, as an educated woman is more likely to be successful in guaranteeing resources for her daughter's education.