This paper considers the issue of unemployment one of the most pressing issues facing the UK and other governments, as the current recessions deepens. It begins by trying to accurately date the beginning of the current downturn in the British economy, arguing that it is clear that the recession...

Over the past 30 years, participation in Further Education (FE) in England has been markedly counter-cyclical. What is more, it has yet to increase beyond the peak of 70% reached in 1993, much to the concern of policy-makers. An obvious explanation for these facts is the availability of labour...

In Germany, apprenticeship training firms currently face a shrinking number of qualified school-leavers because of smaller birth cohorts and an increasing proportion of school leavers aiming for higher education. This paper investigates whether a programme that supports firms to train...