The German Skills Machine

by Culpepper, Pepper D.; Finegold, David

• ISBN13: 9781571811448
• ISBN10: 1571811443
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-09-01
• Publisher: Berghahn Books

Summary

In recent years the German economy has grown sluggishly and created few new jobs. These developments have led observers to question the future viability of a model that in the past seemed able to combine economic growth, competitiveness in export markets, and low social inequality. This volume brings together empirical and comparative research from across the social sciences to examine whether or not Germany's system of skill provision is still capable of meeting the economic and social challenges now facing all the advanced capitalist economies. At issue is the question of whether or not the celebrated German training system, an essential element of the high-skill, high-wage equilibrium, can continue to provide the skills necessary for German companies to hold their economic niche in a world characterized by increasing trade and financial interdependence. Combining an examination of the competitiveness of the German training system with an analysis of the robustness of the political institutions that support it, this volume seeks to understand the extent to which the German system for imparting craft skills can adjust to changes in the organization of production in the advanced industrial states. Pepper D. Culpepper is Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. David Finegold is Research Assistant Professor at the Center for Effective Organizations at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California.

Author Biography

Pepper D. Culpepper is Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. David Finegold is Assistant Research Professor at the Center for Effective Organizations at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Jutta Gatter is a Benefits Consultant at BASF in Germany. Gary Herrigel is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Thomas Hinz is wissenschaftlicher Assistent at the Institute for Sociology at the Ludwig-Maxmilian-University, Munich. Helga Kruger is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Vocational Education and Chair of the Research Program on "Status Passages and Risks in the Life Course" at the University of Bremen. Eric Parker is a Research Fellow at the Project on Regional and Industrial Economics at Rutgers University and is a Research Affiliate of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Joel Rogers is Professor of Law, Political Science, and Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he also directs the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. Charles F. Sabel is Professor of Law and Social Science at Columbia Law School. Karin Wagner is Professor of Business Administration at the Fachhochschule fur Technik und Wirtschaft in Berlin. Stewart Wood is Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Magdalen College at Oxford University and a Director of "Nexus," the UK-based policy and ideas network.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	vii
Acknowledgments	x
Contributors	xi
Introduction: Still a Model for the Industrialized Countries?	1	(36)
Pepper D. Culpepper
Part I Threats to The German System in Comparative Perspective
The German Apprenticeship System under Strain	37	(40)
Karin Wagner
Craft Production in Crisis: Industrial Restructuring in Germany during the 1990s	77	(38)
Gary Herrigel
Charles F. Sabel
The German Skill-Creation System and Team-Based Production: Competitive Asset or Liability?	115	(44)
David Finegold
Karin Wagner
Part II DIstributive Outcomes of The German Training System
Vocational Training and Job Mobility in Comparative Perspective	159	(30)
Thomas Hinz
Gender and Skills: Distributive Ramifications of the German Skill System	189	(39)
Helga Kruger
Continuing Occupational Training in an Aging German Economy	228	(41)
Jutta Gatter
Part III International Experiments with In-Firm Training
Individual Choice, Collective Action, and the Problem of Training Reform: Insights from France and Eastern Germany	269	(57)
Pepper D. Culpepper
Sectoral Training Initiatives in the US: Building Blocks of a New Workforce Preparation System?	326	(37)
Eric Parker
Joel Rogers
Building a Governance Structure for Training? Employers, Government and the TEC Experiment in Britain	363	(40)
Stewart Wood
Conclusion: The Future of the German Skill-Creation System: Conclusions and Policy Options	403	(28)
David Finegold
Bibliography	431	(38)
Index	469