Employers’ Cooperation in Higher Vocational Training: An Analysis of Sectoral Differences in Switzerland

The question of what leads employers to co-finance and collectively provide transferable skills, which have certification, is still puzzling. Based on a cross-sectoral comparative case study of how employers collaborate in the provision and financing of transferable (general) skills in post-secondary vocational training, this study addresses that gap. It argues that the willingness and capacities of employers’ associations to enable collective action in higher vocational training (HVT) is determined by a combination of three conditions: (1) whether large firms are committed to collective action (via industry-level employers’ associations); (2) employers’ associations’ logic of organization building, according to which employers’ associations use HVT as a device for membership and internal interest mediation; (3) spill-over effects between employers’ cooperation in initial vocational training (IVT) collective bargaining and HVT. These findings contribute not only to the literature of employers’ collective action in vocational and further training but also to studies of business associations.