Formal vocational schooling is expected by many to be the best route to job skills, to make
young Egyptians highly employable and to generate substantial returns. This paper compares the
returns to formal vocational secondary education and the returns to vocational skills acquired
through other routes, such as apprenticeships, in Egypt. By using a unique panel data set that
allows for a comparison of siblings, this paper estimates the impact of education and skills on
wages in terms of causal effects. The evidence in this paper shows that for older adults there are
substantial returns to a vocational secondary education. However, for recent graduates there are
very limited, near zero returns to vocational secondary education, even as compared to attaining
no formal education whatsoever. Additionally, this paper demonstrates that the returns to
vocational skills, specifically craft skills obtained through an apprenticeship, are substantial even
for recent graduates. Formal vocational secondary education is not the best route to employable
skills and higher wages. Given this evidence, Egypt’s current system of vocational secondary
education should be dismantled. The widely held assumption that formal education is the most
effective route to skills should be re-examined in other contexts as well.