Wage Compression and Firm-Sponsored Training : Empirical Evidence for the Acemoglu-Pischke Model from German Establishment Data

This paper investigates the determinants of firm-sponsored training which result from the Acemoglu-Pischke model (APM) empirically using German firm-level data on apprenticeship training. Acemoglu and Pischke (1999a, 1999b) demonstrate that wage compression may encourage employers to offer and pay for general training and identify mobility costs, asymmetric information, firm-specific human capital components, efficiency wages, and wage floors as sources of wage compression. Applying zero-inflated negative binomial regression models (ZINB) insistent empirical evidence is found supporting the implications of the APM especially for West Germany