How Low-achieving German Youth Beat the Odds and Gain Access to Vocational Training--Insights from Within-Group Variation

Abstract

In this article, we study differences within the group of low-achieving school leavers, asking who among these disadvantaged youth is successful in entering vocational training in Germany, and why. We pay particular attention to the displacement mechanism by investigating under which conditions non-cognitive skills and personality traits are important for finding apprenticeships. Second, we specify how the mechanism of statistical discrimination works with regard to low-achieving youth. We use a unique set of German longitudinal data on school leavers who attended a lower secondary school (Hauptschule). Our main findings are non-cognitive skills, if observable before hiring, have a stronger impact on the training opportunities of less-educated youth than their grades in mathematics and German. Furthermore, extended internships completed while in school—and thus, employers’ first-hand experiences with less-educated young persons—increase these youth’s training opportunities.