Share Of Apprentices Research Articles

Works councils, training activities and innovation: a study of German firms

Building on the distinction between general and technical human capital proposed by Becker (1962), the authors undertake a cross-sectional analysis on the role of works councils in the provision of workplace human resource training for innovative management in medium and large-size private sector establishments in Germany. Results from the first part of the empirical analysis confirm theoretical predictions that works councils are strongly and positively correlated with the provision of general training, while no such relation is found with respect to technical training. Addressing next the potential endogeneity issue, results from an instrumental variable estimation on the correlation between training types and innovation performance provide support that works councils are an effective instrument for promoting general training for incremental innovation in establishments, whereas technical training is found to correlate significantly with radical innovation when instrumented by the share of apprentices.

On the productivity effects of training apprentices in Hungary: evidence from a unique matched employer–employee dataset

This paper investigates the effects of training apprentices on the productivity of Hungarian firms. In order to retrieve a causal estimate of the effects of apprenticeship training on firm performance, we apply a set of dynamic panel data estimation techniques. We create a unique administrative matched employer–employee panel dataset containing over 40,000 employers in Hungary over the period between 2003 and 2011 in the manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail, and hotels and restaurants sector. Our results indicate that an increase in the share of apprentices (per full-time equivalent worker) decreases the productivity of Hungarian firms in all four sectors. Further, we observe that retention rates of apprentices are low and further slacken in the final years of observation.

England's Eighteenth Century Demand for High-Quality Workmanship: Evidence from Apprenticeship, 1710-1770

In his seminal book, The Enlightened Economy, Joel Mokyr argued that "in Britain the high quality of workmanship available to support innovation, local and imported, helped create the Industrial Revolution". By these, Mokyr refers to "the top 3-5 percent of the labor force in terms of skills: engineers, mechanics, millwrights, chemists, clock- and instrument makers, skilled carpenters and metal workers, wheelwrights, and similar workmen." This article provides empirical evidence from different sources that supports Mokyr's claim. Mainly, I use evidence on apprenticeship that covers all England between 1710 and 1770 and show that in the eighteenth century the most relevant occupation within this group of "high-quality workmen" was the wright, a workmen who "Erects and installs, in place of use, machinery and other mechanical equipment". I find that the share of apprentices bind to wrights, carpenters, joiners and turners increased throughout the eighteenth century. These findings indicate that this was the relevant group of workmen in a period of mechanization and technological change.

Apprenticeship Training in Germany - Investment or Productivity Driven?

The German dual apprenticeship system came under pressure in recent years because enterprises were not willing to offer a sufficient number of apprenticeship positions. A frequently made argument is that the gap could be closed if more firms would be willing to incur net costs during the training period. This paper investigates for the first time whether German enterprises on average indeed incur net costs during the apprenticeship period, i.e. if the impact of an increase in the share of apprentices on contemporary profits is negative. The paper uses the representative linked employer-employee panel data of the IAB (LIAB) and takes into account possible endogeneity of training intensity and unobserved heterogeneity in the profit estimation by employing panel system GMM methods. An increase in the share of apprentices has no effect on profits. This can be interpreted as a first indication that most establishments in Germany do not invest more in apprentices than their productivity effects during the apprenticeship period.