Relative age at school entry, school performance and long-term labour market outcomes

Abstract

This article examines the impact of relative age at school entry on school performance, educational attainment and labour market outcomes later in life. We find that the advantages of maturity at school entry are short-lived with relative age having no impact on the years of formal education, adulthood earnings or employment. Our findings are consistent with the view that assumes modest maturity effects in countries where formal education begins late and there are no ability-differentiated learning groups at initial grades.