Secondary education and international labor mobility: Evidence from the free secondary education reform in the Philippines

International labor mobility is a key factor for a well-functioning labor market. Although educational attainment is known to affect regional labor mobility within a country, evidence of a relationship between schooling and international labor mobility is limited, particularly in developing countries. This study uses the across-cohort variation in the exposure to the 1988 free secondary education reform in the Philippines to examine the impact of years of education on the propensity of working abroad. The results suggest that attaining another year of schooling increases the likelihood of working abroad by 3 and 8 percentage points for men and women, respectively. These results suggest that education improves the ability to deal with negative economic shocks by allowing individuals to find employment in the international labor market.46 p