Labor market frictions are seen in many extensions of the classical human capital theory as a prerequisite for firms financing general training. The labor market reforms in Germany at the beginning of the millennium have therefore been seen by many as a danger to the firms’ willingness to...

This Paper analyzes training motives of firms and the allocation of productive tasks at the workplace using data from the cost-benefit-survey of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training for the year 2007 (BIBB-CBS 2007). We distinguish between two training motives, the...

In this paper, we use firm-level data to analyse a firmÕs costs of recruiting apprentices in Germany. We find that recruitment costs amount on average to 600 Euros per hire (approximately one month of apprentice pay), but costs are heterogenous across firms and vary strongly with the training...

"This paper analyzes training motives of firms and the allocation of productive tasks at the workplace using data from the cost-benefit-survey of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training for the year 2007 (BIBB-CBS 2007). We distinguish between two training motives, the...

For the first time it has been made possible to merge a German and a Swiss firm-level data set that include detailed information about costs and benefits of apprenticeship training. Previous analyses based only on aggregate data showed that the net costs of training apprentices are substantial...