Much of the current discussion promoting apprenticeship programs in the U.S. proceeds as if it is simply a matter of historical accident or lack of imagination which has hindered human capital investment by U.S. firms. However, the cause may be rooted more deeply in our labor market institutions. This paper discusses the structure of incentives undergirding the German system of apprenticeship training. Many German firms face large net costs of apprenticeship training. Yet they continue to provide such training in spite of considerable worker turnover upon completion of the training. The simplest human capital model suggests that employers would be willing to finance only firm-specific training. Rather than engage in a futile debate over the general or specific nature of the skills being provided, we first describe and evaluate 3 characteristics of the German labor market which may lead firms to accept part of the cost of general training even in the face of worker turnover. We then attempt to understand why German workers and firms may be more willing to invest even in firm-specific skills than in the U.S.. Finally, we discuss some implications of these results for the current vocational training debate in the U.S..
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
4557.
Length: Date of creation: Nov 1993 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:4557
Note: LS Contact details of provider: Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A. Phone: 617-868-3900 Email: Web page: http://www.nber.org More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().
Related research
Keywords:
Other versions of this item:
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)