Occupations and collective skill formation in the knowledge economy : exploring differential employment integration for the German case

Abstract

„Most scholars argue that collective skill formation systems are a promising way to integrate workers into the employment system. Whether this is also true in a knowledge economy, however, is an open question. Following a market segmentation approach, this chapter argues that risks of insufficient integration measured by low wages, unskilled work, and temporary employment can vary significantly depending on the occupation graduates were trained for. The idea of investigating an occupation-specific integrative function of collective skill formation is promising for at least two reasons. First, the concept of occupation has been central to vocational training since the middle ages; in Germany, occupations play a decisive role in structuring training content and labour market processes. Second, taking different occupational segments into account is complementary to existing studies exploring differences between organizations. Drawing on representative survey data for Germany (BIBB/ BAuA Employment Survey 2018), this chapter identifies some occupation-specific integration problems within the framework of dual vocational education and training (VET). Nevertheless, graduates trained in occupations classified as ‘knowledge work’ can be guaranteed decent wages, skilled jobs, and stable employment in most cases. This chapter discusses these findings and points out implications for future research.“ (authors‘ abstract; BIBB-Doku)