School-to-Work Linkages in the United States, Germany, and France

Abstract

A new research agenda is proposed for assessing the strength of linkages between educational credentials, including fields of study, and occupational positions. The authors argue that a theoretically fruitful conception of linkage strength requires a focus on granular structure as well as the macroinstitutional characteristics of pathways between education and the labor market. Building on recent advances in the study of multigroup segregation, the authors find that Germany has stronger overall linkage strength than France or the United States. However, the extent to which the three countries differ varies substantially across educational levels and fields of study. The authors illustrate the substantive importance of the new approach by showing, first, that the standard organization space/qualification space distinction poorly describes the contemporary difference between Germany and France and, second, that relative mean occupational wages in Germany and the United States vary directly with the relative linkage strength for occupations in the two countries.

Parental Joblessness and the Moderating Role of a University Degree on the School-to-Work Transition in Australia and the United States

“…This leads to weaker school-to-work linkages and thus slower transitions into the labor market (Bol and Weeden, 2015;DiPrete et al, 2017). In Australia, a nationally steered educational system and more broadly integrated WIL initiatives in higher education should contribute to stronger institutional linkages between higher education and the labor market, leading to smoother and faster transitions from school to work.…”

Education and Physical Health Trajectories in Later Life: A Comparative Study

“…First, education systems differ in the extent to which they reproduce advantages and disadvantages of social background and determine inequality in labor market outcomes. Important features of education systems are standardization, stratification, access to higher education, and vocational orientation (DiPrete et al 2017; Pfeffer 2008). The relationship between social origin and destination is weaker in countries with high standardization, low stratification, and a low share of private costs for higher education.…”

“…The relationship between social origin and destination is weaker in countries with high standardization, low stratification, and a low share of private costs for higher education. Moreover, the relationship between education and labor market outcomes (such as earnings and occupation) is weaker in countries with a lower degree of vocational orientation (DiPrete et al 2017; Pfeffer 2008). …”

Wage Inequality Within and Between Occupations

“…However, occupations that adopt stricter educational standards do not develop more similar wages, and residual wage dispersion does not decrease in credentialized occupations over the 10 years studies. This result indicates that credentialization reduces within-occupation wage variance (see DiPrete et al, 2017), but the effect does not change over time. The associations between linkage strength and within-occupation wage variance is similar across high and low-paying occupations.…”

“…Finally, the credentialization variable measures the extent to which incumbents of an occupation has similar or diverse educational credentials. This is a measure of school-to-work linkage developed by DiPrete et al (2017: appendix A) that combines information about education level and field of study and how it relates to labor market positions. Occupations whose incumbents have similar levels and types of education have a higher score for this variable than occupations with a wide range of educational levels.…”