Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel are used to examine the roles of individual heterogeneity and job match quality in generating commonly observed wage-tenure profiles. The evidence presented in the paper indicates that once those factors are reflected in the estimations, the returns to...

It is often observed that despite the famous prediction of Becker (1962) that firms will not pay for general training, German firms do in fact subsidize apprenticeship training. This paper examines two prominent solutions to this puzzle - "asymmetric information" and "mobility costs." Our tests...