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...

Skills shortages have developed in certain fields and regions in recent years. Earnings premiums for people in some professions, notably health, engineering and skilled trades have increased. And vacancy rates have risen for skilled trades, with the increase being particularly large in Alberta...

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

Are apprenticeships valuable for firms? Economists once thought that firms do not pay to develop occupational skills that workers could use in other, often competing, firms. Now, researchers recognize that most firms benefit from investing in apprenticeship training. Firms gain from the...

Starting in 1999, the Bologna Process reformed the German five-year study system for a first degree into the three-year bachelor's (BA) system to harmonize study lengths in Europe and improve competitiveness. This reform unintentionally challenged the German apprenticeship system that offers...

Starting in 1999, the Bologna Process reformed the German five-year study system for a first degree into the three-year bachelor's (BA) system to harmonize study lengths in Europe and improve competitiveness. This reform unintentionally challenged the German apprenticeship system that offers...

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...

Are apprenticeships valuable for firms? Economists once thought that firms do not pay to develop occupational skills that workers could use in other, often competing, firms. Now, researchers recognize that most firms benefit from investing in apprenticeship training. Firms gain from the...

In many countries, age discrimination appears to be driven by negative perceptions that recruiters stereotypically hold about older candidates' technological skills, trainability, and flexibility. Based on human capital, signalling, and screening theories, we hypothesise that training programmes...

Workers will not pay for general on-the-job training if contracts are not enforceable. Firms may if there are mobility frictions. Private information about worker productivities, however, prevents workers who quit receiving their marginal products elsewhere. Their new employers then receive...