The so-called Hartz reform has introduced fundamental changes for publicly sponsored training in Germany. This concerns primarily the emission of training vouchers as an exclusive allocation device, allowing potential participants free choice among training providers within a given training...

Die Informationskanäle, über die Arbeitnehmer eine Beschäftigung finden, haben sich seit Beginn der 90er Jahre kaum verändert. Freunde und Bekannte sind nach wie vor die wichtigste Informationsquelle für eine erfolgreiche Stellensuche. Auch Anzeigen sind von großer Bedeutung, wobei...

The matching of likes is a frequently observed phenomenon. However, for such assortative matching to arise in a search model, often implausibly strong conditions are required. This paper shows that, once signals are introduced, a search model can generate even perfect assortative matching under...

In April 1995, 5.3 million people in Germany were on the lookout for a new job opportunity. 177,000 or nearly 3% of those were searching for an opportunity to get self-employed. In this study the determinants of the lookout for selfemployment in lieu of wage work are investigated separately for...