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Apprenticeship Skills Pay Off on the Labor Market

Christina Langer, Jakob Peiffer, Simon Wiederhold
CESifo, Munich, 2023

EconPol Forum 24 (6), 39-43
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  • Apprenticeship plans provide the basis for reliably and comprehensively classifying the skills of a large share of Germany’s workforce
  • In total, we classify more than 13,000 different skills and the duration of learning each skill based on the apprenticeship plans
  • Workers who have acquired higher cognitive, social, or digital skills during their apprenticeship earn higher wages in the short and long term
  • In particular, the value of digital skills has risen sharply since the 1990s, parallel to the increasing use of computers in the workplace
  • The speed at which apprenticeship plans are modernized is crucial for how well the German apprenticeship system can prepare its graduates for the future labor market

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