The Political Economy of Collective Skill Formation

Education, skill formation, and training continue to be important areas of consideration for both public policy and research. This book examines the particular types of vocational training known as collective skill formation systems, whereby the training (often firm-based apprenticeships) is collectively organized by businesses and unions with state support and cooperation in execution, finance, and monitoring.With contributions from leading academics, this book is the first to provide a comprehensive analysis of the varying historical origins of, and recent developments in, vocational training systems, offering in-depth studies on coordinated market economies, namely Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Denmark. It also contains comparative chapters that analyze how these countries react to common challenges such as deindustrialization, labor market stratification, academic drift, gender inequalities, and Europeanization.Whereas previous research has focused on the differences between various kinds of skill regimes, this book focuses on explaining institutional variety within the group of collective skill formation systems. The development of skill formation systems is regarded as a dynamic political process, dependent on the outcome of various political struggles regarding such matters as institutional design and transformations during critical junctures in historical development.Introduction 1. The Comparative Political Economy of Collective Skill Formation Marius R. Busemeyer and Christine Trampusch Section I: Country Studies 2. Political Institutions and the Origins of Collective Skill Formation Systems Cathie Jo Martin 3. Institutional Change in German Vocational Training: From Collectivism towards Segmentalism Kathleen Thelen and Marius R. Busemeyer 4. The Long Road to Collective Skill Formation in the Netherlands Karen M. Anderson and Dennie Oude Nijhuis 5. Educational Policy Actors as Stakeholders in the Development of the Collective Skills System: The Case of Switzerland Philipp Gonon and Markus Maurer 6. Austrian Corporatism and Institutional Change in the Relationship between Apprenticeship Training and School-Based VET Lukas Graf, Lorenz Lassnigg, and Justin Powell 7. Continued Collectivism: The Role of Trade Self-Management and the Social Democratic Party in Danish Vocational Education and Training Moira Nelson Section II: Crosscutting Topics and Contemporary Challenges 8. Collective Skill Systems, Wage Bargaining, and Labor Market Stratification Marius R. Busemeyer and Torben Iversen 9. The Link between Vocational Training and Higher Education in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany Rita Nikolai and Christian Ebner 10. Gendered Consequences of Vocational Training Margarita Estévez-Abe 11. Europeanization and the Varying Responses in Collective Skill Systems Justin J.W. Powell and Christine Trampusch Concluding Essay 12. Skills and Politics: General and Specific Wolfgang Streec