We investigate the effect of regular education as vocational rehabilitation for young work-impaired adults in Norway. On 1 January 2004, the age limit for receiving support for regular education as a rehabilitation measure was raised from 22 to 26. This led to a substantial shift in the type of vocational rehabilitation offered -- from education to subsidised employment -- allowing us to address the issue of whether vocational rehabilitation through more education or work practice is best suited to increase the labour market participation of work-impaired youth. We find that the change led to a short-term (2-3-year) increase in employment (0.06-0.92-month increase per year), likely due to the lock-in effect of education. In the medium run (5-6 years), the effect turns negative (0.3-0.98-month decrease per year), consistent with education being superior to subsidised employment. However, we do not detect any effect on employment in the long run (8-9 years), suggesting that these effects fade out over time.