Cost and Benefit of Apprenticeship Training: A Comparison of Germany and Switzerland

Regina Dionisius, Samuel Mühlemann (), Harald Pfeifer, Günter Walden (), Felix Wenzelmann () and Stefan Wolter
Additional contact information
Regina Dionisius: BIBB
Samuel Mühlemann: University of Munich
Günter Walden: BIBB
Felix Wenzelmann: BIBB
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Samuel Muehlemann

No 3465, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: 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 in Germany, whereas apprenticeship training is on average profitable during the training period for firms in Switzerland, even though the two training systems are rather similar. This paper analyzes the reasons for these differences with matching methods. We simulate the impact of changes in certain parameters such as wages, apprenticeship system-related factors and allocation of tasks to apprentices on the cost-benefit ratio using the counterfactual values of the other country. The results show that most of the difference in the net costs of training between the two countries can be explained by a higher share of productive tasks allocated to apprentices in Switzerland and the differences in relative wages.

Keywords: cost and benefit analysis; apprenticeship training (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J31 J44 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2008-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published - published in: Applied Economics Quarterly, 2009, 55(1), 7-36

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp3465.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Costs and Benefits of Apprenticeship Training. A Comparison of Germany and Switzerland (2009)
Working Paper: Cost and Benefit of Apprenticeship Training – A Comparison of Germany and Switzerland (2008)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3465

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().