A Decomposition of Local Labour-Market Conditions and Their Relevance for Inequalities in Transitions to Vocational Training

Abstract

We investigate to what extent individual transitions to vocational training in Germany have been affected by local labour-market conditions. A statistical decomposition approach is developed and applied, allowing for a systematic differentiation between long-term change, short-term fluctuations, and structural regional differences in labour-market conditions. To study individual-level consequences for transitions to vocational training, regionalized labour-market data are merged with longitudinal data from the National Educational Panel Study, and multivariate transition-rate models are fitted. The results indicate that structural differences between regions have had significant effects on the transition behaviour of school leavers, whereas temporary crises have been of only minor relevance. Moreover, different groups have been affected to different degrees by varying labour-market conditions. We also highlight the usefulness of our decomposition approach for a broader set of applications. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

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Author Keywords

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Author Affiliations

Department of Sociology, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tubingen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, Universität zu Köln, Koln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Department of Sociology, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tubingen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

Funding & Acknowledgements

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG

Grant: HI 767/7-2

Funding text 1: 1 This article uses data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS): Starting Cohort Adults, doi:10.5157/NEPS:SC6:7.0.0. From 2008 to 2013, NEPS data were collected as part of the Framework Program for the Promotion of Empirical Educational Research funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). As of 2014, NEPS is carried out by the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) at the University of Bamberg in cooperation with a nationwide network.; Funding text 2: Research for this article was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), Grant HI 767/7-2. Part of the article was written while the first author held a BIGSSS/HWK Fellowship at the HWK Institute for Advanced Study, Delmenhorst, and the University of Bremen.

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF

Funding text 1: 1 This article uses data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS): Starting Cohort Adults, doi:10.5157/NEPS:SC6:7.0.0. From 2008 to 2013, NEPS data were collected as part of the Framework Program for the Promotion of Empirical Educational Research funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). As of 2014, NEPS is carried out by the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) at the University of Bamberg in cooperation with a nationwide network.; Funding text 2: Research for this article was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), Grant HI 767/7-2. Part of the article was written while the first author held a BIGSSS/HWK Fellowship at the HWK Institute for Advanced Study, Delmenhorst, and the University of Bremen.

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A Decomposition of Local Labour-Market Conditions and Their Relevance for Inequalities in Transitions to Vocational Training

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