Firms and skill match strategies in dual vocational education and training

Labour market and economic transformations due to globalization, demographic changes, automatization and digitization have rendered some occupational skills obsolete and created a need for others (Cappelli, 2015). Such transformations stress education systems and failures to adapt to these changes creates skill shortages between the supply- and demand-side of labour (Brunello et al., 2007; Cappelli, 2015). If these shortages persist over time, the economy and society as a whole are hampered.
The topic of skill shortages has attracted considerable scholarly interest in the fields of economics, business and management and political science (Thelen, 2014; Busemeyer, 2015, Cappelli, 2015; McGuinness and Ortiz, 2016). However, in research on skill formation systems and specifically in contexts where firms are highly involved in education and training of youths – i.e. in dual vocational education and training (VET) systems (Busemeyer and Trampusch, 2012; Emmenegger, Graf and Trampusch, 2019) – studies of skill gaps are largely missing. This fact is puzzling, since dual VET systems are known to ascertain a high level of matching between skill supply and skill demands compared to non-dual VET systems (Busemeyer, 2015; Wolter and Ryan, 2011) due to the active involvement of employers in the training and in the governance of the system (Emmenegger, Graf and Trampusch, 2019).
If the firms offering apprenticeships in dual VET systems are not able to attract suitable students and train them in skills that are highly needed on the labour market and relevant for the industries, they risk creating skill shortages in the long-term and to hamper both employment outcomes for young individuals and the economy as a whole (Protsch and Solga, 2016; Thelen, 2014; Brunello and Rocco, 2017; SBFI, 2019). Additionally, the recent pandemic has put the apprenticeship system under additional stress (Lüthi and Wolter, 2020) and is thus likely to accentuate the trend that many young opt for school-based education instead of firm-based in times of economic instability (SBFI, 2019).
Switzerland is an example of dual VET systems where employers are highly involved in training and where as many as 65 per cent of the compulsory school leavers choose to follow vocational training at the upper secondary education level as opposed to a general education (SKBF CSRE, 2018). The Swiss dual VET system enjoys a good reputation among both state actors, the employers, unions as well as parents and the youth themselves and it is considered to be a corner stone of the Swiss economy (Gonon and Maurer, 2012; Trampusch, 2007; Emmenegger, Graf and Trampusch, 2019). However, several sectors have recently reported a large number of unfilled vacancies in vocational education and training (Link Institut, 2017; SBFI, 2019). The main reasons for not filling the vacant position among all firms, from the full range of sectors, is not ‘having received any suitable applications’ or ‘having not received any applications’ (SBFI, 2019, p. 43). If the trend continues, with unfilled positions in these sectors, a tangible skill shortage is likely to occur in Switzerland. Given these transformations of the labour market and the economy, training firms are in the process of rethinking and adapting their recruitment strategies to ensure the in-firm skill supply.
In this postdoctoral research project, I study firms’ strategies to address skill mismatches within the context of vocational education and training systems (Busemeyer and Trampusch, 2012; Wettstein, Schmid and Gonon, 2017). Empirically, I focus on the Swiss VET system. In addition, I want to examine how these strategies have been affected by the pandemic. The goal of this postdoctoral project is to expand our understanding of the factors that contribute to firms’ successful hiring strategies of apprentices. Therefore, the main research question that I address is: What firm strategies to address issues of skill mismatches in dual vocational education and training are successful?
To study firms’ strategies hiring adequate apprentices and thereby addressing in-firm skill shortages in a longer perspective I rely on quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitatively, I will carry out a firm survey, reaching training firms in a selection of relevant sectors. By collecting data on firm characteristics as well as firm strategies for recruitment I will be able to identify the determinants for successful recruitment strategies of adequate apprentices. Qualitatively, I will carry out interviews with firm representatives representing a selection of crucial sectors where I, based on the survey data, have identified high and low levels of successfulness of recruitment.