This paper argues that country size can play a crucial role in shaping the type of gradual change observed in collective skill formation systems. Collectively governed dual-apprenticeship training has its base in the industrial and crafts sectors of the economy and builds on the decentralised cooperation of multiple public and private…

Describes Germany's "dual system," in which trainees serve two-year apprenticeships with businesses while studying vocational and general subjects in school. Discusses the growing number of apprentices with full academic school-leaving certificates, conflicts between schools and businesses, and debate over the relative merits of…

Among 320 young adults in matched German and English labor markets, long-term occupational goals and the behaviors used to achieve them depended not only on past socialization in family and school but also on identity formation related to experiences during transition to employment. Five career patterns are described and linked to transitional…

In eastern Germany, reunification involved economic and political transformations that have resulted in new education, training, and employment structures. A study of young adults in Leipzig and their transition to employment focused on how the interplay between institutional structures and individual actions produced career outcomes. Similarities…