The NZ labour market is among the most flexible in the OECD, and outcomes for its young people have been among the best. However, labour-market opportunities are heavily determined by initial education, where New Zealand’s system is also successful and innovative in many ways. Average PISA...

This paper addresses the puzzle how employers that invest in general human capital can gain an information advantage with respect to the ability of their employees when training is certified by credible external institutions. We apply an established model from the employer-learning literature...

Using a large database of online job postings, we demonstrate that employee skill requirements rise when there is a larger supply of relevant job seekers. We identify this effect using variation across time, occupations, and places, which allows us to control for potentially confounding factors....

German firms have increasing difficulties in filling apprentice positions. I study how firms adjust their personnel policies when they face unfilled apprentice positions. Using the IAB Establishment Panel (2008-2014) and applying fixed effects panel estimations, I find that small firms react by...

This paper explores for the first time the impact of a demand-driven training program on labor turnover at both firm and worker level. Launched in 2014 by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade (MDIC in Portuguese), Pronatec-MDIC allows firms to demand courses which some of their...

This paper addresses the puzzle how employers that invest in general human capital can gain an information advantage with respect to the ability of their employees when training is certified by credible external institutions. We apply an established model from the employer-learning literature...

This paper examines how workers' earnings change after involuntary job separations depending on the workers' acquired IT skills and the specificity of their occupational training. We categorize workers' occupational skill bundles along two independent dimensions. First, we distinguish between...

Does better access to skilled workers reduce firms' willingness to provide general skills training to unskilled workers? We analyze how the gradual opening of the Swiss labor market to workers from the European Union affected the number of apprenticeship positions that firms provide. We exploit...

This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to estimate the effects of formal training on employment duration. Using an approach meant to distinguish between training as an unconditional investment and training as an outcome conditional on the quality of the job match, I...

This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to estimate the effects of formal training on employment duration. Using an approach meant to distinguish between training as an unconditional investment and training as an outcome conditional on the quality of the job match, I...