Although in the comparative political economic literature on skills, the commitment of employers to invest in vocational training is one of the major topics, the question of what gets employers and firms to co-finance and provide transferable skills which are certified is still puzzling. Based on a cross-sectional comparative case study on employers’ collaboration in the provision and financing of transferable (general) skills in post-secondary vocational training (higher vocational training), this study addresses this gap. It argues that employers’ collective action in higher vocational training varies across economic sectors and that employers’ cooper-ation is determined by the interaction of three factors: (1) large firms’ commitment for collective action in HVT which depends on the importance of internal labor markets, resp. individu-al employers’ capacity and willingness to recruit skilled labor for vocational leadership positions (fachspezifische Kaderpositionen) internally instead of from external markets and wheth-er they view HVT as a major alternative to university education; (2) employers’ associations’ use of HVT as an organizational device or instrument in internal interest intermediation; (3) the tradition and function of cooperation in initial vocational training and in collective bar-gaining among firms and between employers and unions at the sectoral level.
