Vocational training during the COVID-19 pandemic: Under what conditions does the public support state subsidies for training firms?

Abstract

This article presents novel empirical findings on whether and under what conditions the public supports apprenticeship subsidies paid to training firms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on the literature on justice research and deservingness theory, we construct an experimental factorial survey among individuals from German administrative records. The findings suggest selective support targeting the neediest firms, for example, small firms and firms strongly affected economically. Furthermore, we find that perceived deservingness is higher for firms offering apprenticeships in an area of skill shortage. Our results furthermore suggest that personal characteristics impact the assessment of the distribution of state support. © 2023 The Authors. Industrial Relations published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Regents of the University of California (RUC).

Keywords

Author Keywords

Not provided

Index Keywords

training Vocational education COVID-19 Germany subsidy system public attitude epidemic

Author Affiliations

Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Nurnberg, Bayern, Germany

Funding & Acknowledgements

Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, BMAS

Grant: FIS.00.00117.19

Funding text 1: This research was financially supported by the \u201CSupport Network for Interdisciplinary Social Policy Research\u201D (FIS) of the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium f\u00FCr Arbeit und Soziales) (grant number FIS.00.00117.19). We thank Christina Boll, Bernd Fitzenberger, Johannes Ludsteck, Christopher Osiander, Gesine Stephan, and two anonymous reviewers for valuable advice and helpful suggestions. This article uses data from the high-frequency online panel (IAB-HOPP). We thank all researchers who contributed to collecting the data and who provided helpful feedback on the design of the vignette study. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.; Funding text 2: This research was financially supported by the \u201CSupport Network for Interdisciplinary Social Policy Research\u201D (FIS) of the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium f\u00FCr Arbeit und Soziales) (grant number FIS.00.00117.19). We thank Christina Boll, Bernd Fitzenberger, Johannes Ludsteck, Christopher Osiander, Gesine Stephan, and two anonymous reviewers for valuable advice and helpful suggestions. This article uses data from the high\u2010frequency online panel (IAB\u2010HOPP). We thank all researchers who contributed to collecting the data and who provided helpful feedback on the design of the vignette study. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, BMAS

Funding text 1: This research was financially supported by the \u201CSupport Network for Interdisciplinary Social Policy Research\u201D (FIS) of the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium f\u00FCr Arbeit und Soziales) (grant number FIS.00.00117.19). We thank Christina Boll, Bernd Fitzenberger, Johannes Ludsteck, Christopher Osiander, Gesine Stephan, and two anonymous reviewers for valuable advice and helpful suggestions. This article uses data from the high-frequency online panel (IAB-HOPP). We thank all researchers who contributed to collecting the data and who provided helpful feedback on the design of the vignette study. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.; Funding text 2: This research was financially supported by the \u201CSupport Network for Interdisciplinary Social Policy Research\u201D (FIS) of the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium f\u00FCr Arbeit und Soziales) (grant number FIS.00.00117.19). We thank Christina Boll, Bernd Fitzenberger, Johannes Ludsteck, Christopher Osiander, Gesine Stephan, and two anonymous reviewers for valuable advice and helpful suggestions. This article uses data from the high\u2010frequency online panel (IAB\u2010HOPP). We thank all researchers who contributed to collecting the data and who provided helpful feedback on the design of the vignette study. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

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Vocational training during the COVID-19 pandemic: Under what conditions does the public support state subsidies for training firms?

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