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The importance of continuous training within employment careers grew strongly during the recent decades. Rapid technological change often renders initial education and training insufficient as careers progress. Therefore, many argue that “lifelong learning” should become the norm for workers. Yet, the benefits of training participation for workers are still partly unclear.

The aim of this project is to broaden the knowledge about the returns to further training. To achieve this, the analyses take into account the multifaceted nature of further training. This includes the following distinctions:

Labor income is the prime income source in most households in modern capitalist societies. Thus, large parts of the population rely on stable jobs to maintain their standard of living and employment interruptions such as job loss often lead to downward mobility. However, the effects of job loss and unemployment on a person’s standard of living are not determined by losses in labor income alone. Because of the risks entailed by job loss, all modern welfare states implemented some form of unemployment insurance. Furthermore, there are two other ways through which downward income mobility after job loss may be mitigated. First, rapid re-employment in a well-paid job may maintain economic well-being.

This comparative project investigates internationalization and institutional changes at the nexus of advanced general education and specific vocational training in North America and Europe. It reports on contemporary developments in national postsecondary educational systems, examines institutional persistence and change as these systems react to international pressures, and analyzes the consequences of such developments for participation in education and employment as well as social mobility. The analysis goes beyond the cross-sectional, as we ask how national systems developed and why they change as they do. Our focus is on the evolution of these educational systems’ complementary models of preparing young adults for labor market participation and active citizenship.

Students whose parents do not have an academic background are still underrepresented in German universities, although many achieve a higher education entrance qualification (“Abitur”). Which education policy measures might convince them to decide in favour of university enrolment? This question is explored by a joint research project of the DIW Berlin and the WZB.