Social inclusion in the knowledge economy: unions’ strategies and institutional change in the Austrian and German training systems

Abstract

As skill formation systems are increasingly under pressure from de-industrialization and the rise of knowledge economies, their ability to include the low-skilled has been strained. But what determines how skill formation systems adjust to this challenge? By explaining the divergence of two most-similar systems, those of Austria and Germany, the article highlights the key role of trade unions and of the institutional resources and legacies available to them. Where institutional resources are high and legacies positive, as in Austria, unions were crucial in setting an inclusive pathway of reform of the training system. Where, on the contrary, institutional resources are low and legacies negative, as in Germany, unions’ strategies for inclusion failed, paving the way to a dualizing outcome. The article therefore provides a novel analysis of institutional change in skill formation systems, while also offering broader insights on the relationship between coordinated and egalitarian capitalism in post-industrial knowledge-based economies.

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

“…SCAT is legally anchored in the Vocational Training Act of 1998. A historical analysis of political processes shows that SCAT was not planned at the drawing board, but is rooted in a long tradition of training in workshops (Durazzi and Geyer 2019).…”

“…The idea was that the measures would be limited in terms of time and quantity, until the apprenticeship market recovered. This expectation was not fulfilled, but the gap in the apprenticeship market turned out to be a structural problem (Schneeberger 2009;Durazzi and Geyer 2019). Moreover, the number of training companies has been falling continuously from 40,000 (in 1999) to 28,000 (in 2018) (Dornmayr and Nowak 2019, p. 38).…”

“…This significantly increased pressure on the government, which in 2007 introduced a training guarantee. In 2007, the Social Democrats took over again, which led to a stronger legal anchoring of SCAT (Schneeberger 2009;Durazzi and Geyer 2019). During this time SCAT became a permanent structural element of the VET system.…”

“…This is achieved on the one hand through the local governance structures of the PES (employee representatives are key actors in the tripartite governance structure), but also through the implementation of SCAT (some large training providers are supported by the trade unions). This leads unsurprisingly to resistance on the side of employers, who traditionally see apprenticeship training as primarily a matter for companies (Durazzi and Geyer 2019) and thus SCAT as a supplementary measure for a partly non-functional apprenticeship market.…”

Comparative VET European research since the 1980s: accommodating changes in VET systems and labour markets

“…More recently, comparative approaches have transcended national boundaries, placing greater emphasis on variegated capitalism, hybrid VET and qualification systems, and labour agency, including social inclusion and different union strategies (e.g. Jessop 2011Jessop , 2015Deissinger et al 2013;Deissinger 2015;Jørgensen, Olsen, and Thunqvist 2018;Michelsen and Stenström 2018;Durazzi and Geyer 2019).…”