A Structural Model of Demand for Apprentices

Samuel Muehlemann (), Juerg Schweri, Rainer Winkelmann () and Stefan C. Wolter

No 504, Working Papers from University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute

Abstract: It is a widely held opinion that apprenticeship training represents a net investment for training firms, and that therefore firms only train if they have the possibility to recoup these investments after the training period. A recent study using a new firm-level dataset for Switzerland showed, however, that for 60 percent of the firms, the apprenticeship training itself does not result in net cost. In this context it seems important to examine the question whether the potential net cost of training (during the training period) are a major determinant for the demand for apprentices. Different count data models, in particular hurdle models, are used to estimate the effect of net cost on the demand for apprentices. The results show that the net cost have a significant impact on the training decision but no significant influence on the demand for apprentices, once the firm has decided to train. For policy purposes, these results indicate that subsidies for firms that already train apprentices would not boost the demand for apprentices.

Keywords: Apprenticeship training; count data; probit-Poisson-log-normal model; Switzerland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 C25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: Written 2005-02
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http://www.soi.uzh.ch/research/wp/2005/wp0504.pdf First version, 2005 (application/pdf)

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Working Paper: A Structural Model of Demand for Apprentices (2005)
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