Embedded flexibilization and polite employer domination: the case of short-track apprenticeships in Switzerland

Abstract

National political economies and their skill formation systems face increasing liberalization and deindustrialization pressures, related to factors such as growing global competition, the rise of the service sector, and rapid technological developments (Streeck 2009; Mayer and Solga 2008). The literature on institutional change discusses different reactions to such increasing pressures. While some authors identify a process of policy conversion along the lines of liberalization (Albo 2005; Baccaro and Howell 2011), others highlight the variation in how systems liberalize (Thelen 2012, 2014). For example, Thelen (2012) finds that political economies differ in the extent to which they maintain strategic employer coordination to achieve joint economic gains, on the one hand,

Social inclusion and collective skill formation systems: policy and politics

“…In this case, however, it is conceivable that employers do consent to them because these measures neither enter in competition with the regular system (for example, because they offer lower qualifications) nor do they weaken business’ control over the system. This scenario is consistent with the notion of ‘polite employer domination’ (Di Maio et al, 2020), whereby business might consent to socially inclusive measures because these do not alter their pre-eminent role in the governance of the system. Business, in other words, is pivotal in this quadrant too, but it is not necessarily expected to use its pivotal position to torpedo inclusive measures.…”

“…Other contributions highlight that different political dynamics may also emerge. Di Maio et al (2020) show for instance that the introduction of two-year apprenticeships in Switzerland was the outcome of a process initiated by the government despite some initial scepticism from the business community. Nonetheless, they also show that the government was aware of employers' preferences and anticipated them.…”

“…This has changed over the last couple of years when several articles put social inclusion front and centre of the analysis (cf. Bonoli and Emmenegger, 2020; Bonoli and Wilson, 2019; Carstensen and Ibsen, 2019; Di Maio et al, 2019; Di Maio et al, 2020; Durazzi and Geyer, 2020). These articles share a starting point: social inclusion is a dimension of skill formation systems that deserves to be analysed in and of itself as opposed of thinking of it as a by-product of other dimensions.…”

“…The thematic review is motivated by a recent surge of interest in the relationship between social inclusion and collective skill formation systems 1 in comparative political economy (CPE) and comparative social policy (CSP) research (Bonoli and Emmenegger, 2020; Bonoli and Wilson, 2019; Carstensen and Ibsen, 2019; Di Maio et al, 2019, 2020; Durazzi and Geyer, 2020; Ibsen and Thelen, 2020). This is not necessarily surprising: the social inclusion ‘angle’ has long been present in the literature on skill formation (Soskice, 1994; Streeck, 1997).…”

Supra-company apprenticeship training in Austria: a synopsis of empirical findings on a possibly early phase of a new pillar within VET

“…This shifted the problem to a prevocational measure (Protsch and Solga 2016). Switzerland has undertaken a systemic reform of the VET system, which resulted in the introduction of fast-track apprenticeships (Di Maio et al 2020). These examples show the international relevance of quick reactions to crises on the part of VET systems by balancing economic efficiency and inclusiveness (Bonoli and Wilson 2019;Di Maio et al 2019).…”