We investigate whether vocationally and generally educated individuals differ in their on-the-job learning and how this difference evolves over the career. To this end, we exploit the European Skills and Jobs Survey dataset and rely on instrumental variable estimation. While our descriptive results …
Vocational education enhances smooth transitions into the labour market. However, this initial advantage might vanish over the career and eventually turn into a disadvantage because the skills of vocationally trained workers become outdated faster. So far, research has examined this potential vocati…
This study investigates how parents' native and migrant contacts in the German labour market affect the likelihood of children obtaining a company-based apprenticeship [dual vocational education and training (VET)] after lower secondary education. Furthermore, it assesses the extent to which charact…
Many countries have implemented youth (un)employment programmes for low-achieving young people to improve their employment prospects. In Germany, these youths are often channelled into prevocational programmes to prevent them from long-term 'scars' by providing a 'second chance' to enter apprentices…
Although children of immigrant origin in many European countries are observed to choose higher levels of education than native-origin peers at similar levels of academic performance, little is known about the outcomes of these high-Aspiring choices. Using administrative register data covering all ch…
Dropping out of post-secondary education has negative consequences for career progression. However, as human capital theory predicts and as previous studies have shown, having some training still pays off. For a large part of the European workforce who has attended vocational training, however, the …
How do employers use different types of signals - that is, information believed to be associated with productivity - when hiring apprentices? We use a survey experiment in Switzerland - a country with a well-developed dual training system - to study employers' hiring behaviour. The results reveal th…
We examine the impact of parental unemployment and regional labour market conditions on the probability of a successful transition from non-Academic secondary schooling to vocational training in Germany, using data from the National Educational Panel Study and multilevel logistic regression models. …
Abstract This article analyses the effect of vocational education on school-To-work transitions for the 2006 cohort of Dutch graduates of upper-secondary education (ISCED Level 3). Using sequence analysis, it uncovers ideal-Typical school-To-work transition trajectories representing the first 7 year…
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…
The aim of this article is to systematize empirical findings from the German Life History Studies, which allow a (long-term) historical perspective on changes in Germany's vocational education and training (VET) system. We consider two aspects. First, we examine access to and patterns of VET partici…
Using data on successive birth cohorts from the German Life History Study and the National Educational Panel Study, we analyse how the process of educational attainment of men and women from different educational origins has changed in the long run. Our results show that educational inequality is st…
The 'dual system' combining school-based vocational education with employer-provided training is often praised for effectively integrating young people into the labour market and recommended as a model for countries struggling with high youth unemployment. However, without an institutional framework…
This article aims to improve our understanding about why and how individuals' signals of cognitive and noncognitive skills influence labour market outcomes. We study how employers use skills signals when hiring labour market entrants. These demand-side microprocesses are investigated at the apprenti…
In this article, we study differences within the group of low-achieving school leavers, asking who among these disadvantaged youth is successful in entering vocational training in Germany, and why. We pay particular attention to the displacement mechanism by investigating under which conditions non-…
Our work aims to bring together two research fields: the debate concerning different labour market flexibilization strategies and the determinants of training chances. The purpose of our work is therefore to assess the trade-off between temporary employment and training opportunities in a comparativ…
Labour market opportunities among children of immigrants is a crucial test of long-term structural integration of ethnic minorities, since these individuals have acquired linguistic fluency, educational qualifications, and work experience specific to their parents' destination country. Using compreh…
The article examines how the probability of obtaining an apprenticeship as a part of upper secondary education varies between ethnic Norwegians and minority groups. The analyses show considerable differences between the ethnic majority and the minority groups of non-western origin. Although grades a…
Individual dynamics of overeducation are analysed for vocationally trained workers using work history data from the German Life History Study (GLHS). The primary focus of interest is whether overeducation is a persistent or a temporary phenomenon for the affected workers. To analyse this question, w…
The potential significance of employers' collective action for economic performance is widely acknowledged, but has not been complemented with corresponding theory-guided research on the probability of collective action and the conditions for effective action. This article examines the nature of, th…
