Soziodemographische Muster der Qualifikationsstruktur von Erwerbstätigkeit und Unterbeschäftigung (Socio-demographic patterns of the qualification structure of employment and underemployment)

"The vocational qualification in Germany is crucial for a successful participation in the labour market. Persons without a vocational certification carry a clearly higher risk to become jobless and they have problems to gain a sustained foothold in the labour market. In contrast, at the upper end of the qualification scale we recognize a bottleneck in labour supply in some economic areas. During the last economic boom some enterprises complained about difficulties to find sufficiently qualified staff. The relations between vocational qualification and labour market are extensive and comprehensive. Hence there are many studies and research projects which deal mostly with detailed aspects of these connections. This is not the main focus of the following report. It rather aims for a more general perspective on the topic of vocational qualification. In addition it provides an overall stock-taking of the vocational education of the labour force potential in Germany. Qualification patterns are explored for all components of labour force potential, which comprises employed persons, registered unemployed persons and the hidden labour force. The structures of qualification are depicted and compared for each component of the labour force potential. It distinguishes between Western and Eastern Germany as well as between gender and different age groups. Besides, the employed persons are differentiated by their occupational status and their working time. The comparative analysis indicates clearly the narrow connection between labour market participation and vocational qualification. Nevertheless, this is not the main subject of the report. The following presentation rather gives an overview from a macroeconomic perspective and offers a quantitative basis for the discussion of working hours-politics and education politics. These could contribute to an improvement of the qualification of the entire labour force potential." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))