These results hold for both genders, even when we distinguish between on-the-job and off-the-job training. Interestingly, the negative effect of a vocational curriculum is larger in absolute value in countries with higher employment protection. It is often said that the presence of vocational tracks helps keeping students with limited academic attitudes in school. Our empirical evidence shows that upper secondary VET is associated to substantially higher hourly earnings, employability and skills with respect to lower education.