Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2025)
In Germany, works councils possess co-determination rights concerning apprenticeship training, which may influence training outcomes in firms. While the literature commonly assumes homogeneous effects of works councils, this study reveals considerable heterogeneity in their involvement in training-r…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2023)
Using a three-phase approach that combines quantitative (pooled OLS, fixed effects and IV) with qualitative (semi-structured interviews) analyses, we find that in Italy, workplace unions are more likely to enhance training when they sign a firm-level agreement and when they can get access to externa…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2023)
This study provides novel evidence on trends in job stability in the United Kingdom and Germany, two capitalist economies with distinct sets of institutions and labour market reform trajectories. While we find evidence of an increase in short-term jobs for men in both countries, we also find importa…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2023)
Participating in further training is strategically important for employees to ensure their employability. Particularly for employees in low-skilled jobs, works councils — firm-level organizations that represent employees — constitute an important employee advocacy instrument in European countries, s…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2022)
This article asks why British manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggle to meet their intermediate technical skills needs. While the comparative political economy literature typically attributes the failure to train in Britain to collective action problems, we complement this …
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2022)
This paper provides empirical evidence on the effect on wages of the mobility across firms and sectors of apprentices after graduation in Italy over the period 1997–2013. We use administrative data and employ an instrumental variable approach to account for endogenous mobility due to observed and un…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2021)
Collective skill formation systems need to adapt to economic change, most notably the expansion of the service economy. However, deeply anchored in the craft and industrial sectors, these systems rely on neo-corporatist institutions to undergird firms’ training provision, which are often missing in …
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2020)
This article explores how innovative firms attempt to acquire the skilled technicians needed to deploy new technologies. Interviews with 40 employers from the UK life sciences sector reveal that shortages of technicians, an awareness of the importance of practical skills best acquired through work-b…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2019)
A series of seminal papers argues that poaching hampers company-sponsored general training. Empirically, however, the existence and extent of poaching remain open questions. We provide a novel empirical strategy to identify poaching. We find that only few apprenticeship training firms in Germany are…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2019)
Collective skill formation systems have come under sustained pressure in recent years. Scholars observe a fragmentation process, which is the result of changing power relations, putting large training firms in a dominant position. However, so far the literature has examined neither the role of small…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2017)
Wages are a composite measure of the return to education and the return to work experiences. Work experiences are often defined as workers who gain experiences on-the-job. However, work experiences can also be part of a study curriculum in vocational secondary education. We estimate the return to in…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2016)
Using representative data from the IAB Establishment Panel, we show that the managerial environment has a strong influence on the introduction and survival of works councils. Employees in owner-managed establishments are less likely to introduce a works council. Moreover, in case of an introduction,…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2016)
The conventional focus on the training participation rate, rather than training volume, in official statistics and research has obscured a radical transformation in workers' training in Britain. To obtain a picture of the trend in training volume, we synthesize a narrative through a new analysis of …
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2012)
Often admired by international observers, the German dual training system has come under pressure in recent years because of a persistent lack in training slots for young people. The article addresses the question of how policy makers have reacted to the problems in the training market. Particular a…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2011)
It is popular to assume that there is a link between skill and performance, yet the evidence is tenuous. Both terms defy simple definition and much current work aggregates findings, conflating firms that compete on the basis of skill with those that do not. This article provides a detailed review of…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2009)
The political-economic institutions that have traditionally reconciled economic efficiency with social solidarity in the advanced industrial countries, and specifically in the so-called 'coordinated market economies', are indisputably under pressure today. However, scholars disagree on the trajector…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2008)
The establishment of a role in workplace learning has been perceived as one of the achievements of trade unions under New Labour. This article analyses the part the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has played in public policy since 1997. It examines its attempts to influence government and develop social…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2008)
The preservation of the apprenticeship system in the Australian construction industry contrasts with its decline in Britain over the last three decades. This decline is conventionally ascribed to changes in industrial structure, specifically a decline in the role of the public sector, intensificatio…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2007)
We consider the link between apprenticeship and large employers in Britain, in terms of the contribution of apprenticeship to intermediate skills and the contribution of large employers to the Advanced Apprenticeship (AA) programme. Evidence is taken from interviews with managers in 28 organizations…
Published:British Journal of Industrial Relations
(2003)
This article evaluates the British system of NVQs, focusing on their capacity to increase skill levels. It reviews the way NVQs were designed and argues that they are ill-equipped to encourage knowledge and skills, partly because they simply replicate the weaknesses which currently exist in the labo…
