How to foster lifelong learning: Evidence from a large and generous educational leave program

Lifelong learning is of increasing importance for many economies facing structural change and rising labor market dynamics. To foster lifelong and adult learning, many advanced economies have introduced leave programs for educational purposes, including Austria (the so-called “Bildungskarenz”). Several reforms have made the Austrian educational leave program one of the most generous and expensive educational leave programs among all OECD countries (OECD 2019). So far, remarkably little is known about the impact of this educational leave program. Using administrative data of all private sector employees in Austria this project will first analyze the causal effects of program generosity on program take-up. Next, we will investigate whether participation in this lifelong learning program had positive wage and career effects on program participants.