Costs and Benefits of Apprenticeship Training. A Comparison of Germany and Switzerland

OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training: A Learning for Jobs Review of Belgium Flanders 2010

“…Smits (2006) also found that the quality of training is better in firms that train to meet their future needs of qualified labour. Evidence from Switzerland (Dionisius et al, 2008) challenges this, showing that quality standards can ensure that apprentices receive high quality training, while being productive.…”

“…These benefits depend on various factors, including how the firm allocates tasks to VET students. A study comparing Germany and Switzerland (Dionisius et al, 2008) argues that Swiss apprentices spend more time doing productive work, and this is a major reason why in the majority of firms apprenticeship training is profitable already during the training period in Switzerland (Wolter and Schweri, 2002), while it is not in Germany (Beicht, Walden and Herget, 2004).…”

Classifying vocational training markets

“…Apprentices participate in financing by accepting wage cuts, and the government provides accompanying education in vocational schools. Employers bear the largest part of training costs, which are relatively high compared to other countries (Dionisius et al 2009). Nonetheless, investments in dual training may be attractive for employers in the long run: first, firm-based contents are directly related to the production process of goods and services.…”

OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training: A Learning for Jobs Review of Chile 2009

“…Some evidence suggests that firms training for substitution reasons are less likely to provide good quality training (Askilden and Øivind, 2005;Smits, 2006) and/or more likely to use trainees as cheap unskilled labour. Conversely in Switzerland Dionisius et al (2008) show that firms manage to pay off the costs of training during the training period by allocating students to productive tasks and using apprentices in skilled jobs. The existence of regulations setting out the content of workplace training (Smits, 2006) and quality standards (Dionisius et al, 2008) are identified as essential to ensure high quality learning.…”

“…Conversely in Switzerland Dionisius et al (2008) show that firms manage to pay off the costs of training during the training period by allocating students to productive tasks and using apprentices in skilled jobs. The existence of regulations setting out the content of workplace training (Smits, 2006) and quality standards (Dionisius et al, 2008) are identified as essential to ensure high quality learning.…”