The two sides of work-study training. Work-study training, where theoretical training in a professional school is combined with practical training in a company for two to three years, is one of the pillars of the famous “German model,” highly prized in Germany and abroad. However, a new study carried out by Ludger Wössmann, Professor at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich and researcher at the Ifo Center for Economic Studies, Eric A. Hanushek, from Stanford University, CA, United States, and Lei Zhang from Tsinghua University, China, is shedding new light on this form of training. According to Mr. Wössmann, while work-study training has certainly proven itself in Germany (nearly 50 percent of young people are concerned), there are two sides to this. First side: apprentices follow highly-specialized training meeting the specific needs of a company and usually easily get, afterwards, a job at the end of training. However, the downside is that such a level of specialization can turn out to be detrimental with age. “When the skills needed in businesses evolve with time, the extremely specific knowledge the apprentice learned may no longer be needed on the labor market” Pr Wössmann warned. He gave an example: with the increasingly fast changes in technologies and the labor world, entire sections of the industry are relocated to eastern Europe and Asia. Even with excellent training, dressmakers are almost not in demand anymore in Germany, unlike engineers in mechatronics, much sought after in the country. “Yet, who knows what skills businesses will need 30 years from now, when today’s apprentices will barely be 50?” the researcher wonders. He thinks that the study done with Mr. Hanushek and Mr. Shang confirms that there is a conflict between better professional prospects in the early years of a career and reduced prospects with age. Based on information on 15,000 people aged 16-65 from 18 countries, the researchers showed that former apprentices were more in danger of unemployment at the end of their career than employees who graduated high-school or went to college. This is especially true in Germany where the activity rate of men over 55 amounts to less than 33 percent, as opposed to 75 percent for men with a more general education.
rospects in the early years of a career and reduced prospects with age. Based on information on 15,000 people aged 16-65 from 18 countries, the researchers showed that former apprentices were more in danger of unemployment at the end of their career than employees who graduated high-school or went to college.
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