Labour Market Success of Initial Vocational Education and Training Graduates: A Comparative Study of Three Education Systems in Central Europe

Figures & data

Table 1. Economic and IVET features of Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany.

	Austria	Czech Republic	Germany	EU 28
Socio-economic environment (2019)
Population (in thousands)	8901	10,693	83,166	513,471
GDP per capita in PPS^5	127	92	121	101
Av. GDP growth (2014–2018) (World Bank)	1.82	1.91	3.56	1.95
Unemployment rate of ages 15–74 (total)	4.5%	2.0%	3.1%	6.3%
Youth unemployment rate (ages 15–24)	8.5%	5.6%	5.8%	14.3%
Youth unemployment rate of ages 15–24 with upper-secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 3 and 4)	6.9%	4.1%	3.9%	12.4%
NEET rate of ages 15–24	7.1%	5.7%	5.7%	10.1%
Employment rates of ages 25–34 by educational attainment (OECD 2020)				EU 23
Below upper sec. Upper-sec. or post-sec. non-tertiary (general/vocational) Tertiary	58%86% (71%/89%) 86%	57% 82% (81%/83%) 78%	59% 84% (61%/88%) 88%	58% 80% (73%/82%) 85%
Employment rates of ages 45–54 by educational attainment (OECD 2020)				EU 23
Below upper sec. Upper-sec. or post-sec. non-tertiary (general/vocational) Tertiary	69% 87% (84%/88%) 93%	66% 94% (95%/92%) 97%	69% 88% (79%/89%) 94%	65% 84% (82%/84%) 92%
Earning difference between adults with upper-secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary vocational education versus general education at this level	−19%	+34%	−15% (−61% compared to tertiary educated adults)	−1%
IVET features (2019)
Recognised training occupations	218 (BMDW, 2018)	279	327	-
IVET duration	2–4 years (3 years are common)	2–4 years (with maturita: 4, apprenticeship certificate: 3, mere completion: 2)	3 years	-
Educational attainment of ages 25–34				EU 23
Below upper sec. Upper-sec. or post-sec. non-tertiary (general/vocational) Tertiary	11% 8%/40% 42%	7% 36%/24% 33%	13% 8%/46% 33%	13% 14%/30% 44%
Share of upper-sec. students enrolled in VET programmes (2018) Share of women	68% 43%	71% 45%	46% 36%	42% (= OECD av.) 45%
Share of upper-sec. VET students enrolled in combined school- and work-based programmes (2018)	45%	n/a	89%	34%
Share of upper-sec. VET students enrolled in programmes providing direct access to tertiary education (2018)	95%	68%	92%	70%

* AE = Academic education (ISCED 3), DV = dual IVET, SV = School-based IVET

Data source: Eurostat (online data), OECD (2020)

Table 2. Variables used to create the index of labour market success.

Variable description (PIAAC dataset variable name)	Scaling	Categories (values)
Employment status (C_Q07)	Ordinal	Full-time employed (1) Part-time employed (2) Unemployed (3)
Gross hourly wage (EARNHRDCL)	Ordinal	deciles (1 lowest decile, 10 highest decile)
Hierarchical status in the company (D_Q08a)	Ordinal	Without managerial responsibility (1) Responsibility for <5 people (2) Responsibility for >5 people (3)
Type of contract (D_Q09)	Ordinal	An indefinite contract (1) A fixed-term contract (2) A temporary employment agency contract (3) An apprenticeship or other training scheme (4) No contract (5)
Weekly working hours (D_Q10_C)	Metric	1–60 hours
Formal qualification level required for the job (D_Q12a)	Ordinal	No formal qualification or below ISCED 1 (1) (…) ISCED 6 (14)
Individual skill match	Ordinal	Under-skilled or over-skilled (1) Well-matched (2)

Source: authors (based on PIAAC 2013 national datasets)

Figure 1. Labour market success index average values of the graduates with corresponding qualification.

Source: own calculations from PIAAC 2013 data; error bars show 95% CI.

Table 3. Multiple linear regression models predicting labour market success.

	Aged 15–24				Aged 25–64
	Baseline model		Extended model		Baseline model			Extended model
	β	(S.E.)	β	(S.E.)	β	(S.E.)	β	(S.E.)
AUSTRIA
Qualification (ref: below ISCED 3)
ISCED 3 – dual education	0.28	(0.05)***	0.02	(0.06)	0.13	(0.03)***	−0.02	(0.03)
ISCED 3 – school-based VET	0.14	(0.05)**	0.12	(0.05)*	0.10	(0.03)***	0.06	(0.03)*
ISCED 3 – academic track	−0.02	(0.12)	−0.06	(0.12)	0.17	(0.02)***	0.08	(0.02)**
ISCED 4 or higher	0.37	(0.05)***	0.30	(0.06)***	0.52	(0.03)***	0.35	(0.03)***
Years of work experience			0.39	(0.07)***			0.18	(0.02)***
Female			−0.14	(0.05)**			−0.35	(0.02)***
Immigrant			0.02	(0.06)			0.04	(0.02)
Numeracy skills			0.25	(0.07)***			0.24	(0.03)***
Adjusted R^2	0.17		0.35		0.18		0.41
N	308		306		2164		2158
CZECH REPUBLIC
Qualification (ref: below ISCED 3)
ISCED 3 – apprenticeship (without maturita)	0.07	(0.08)	−0.01	(0.1)	0.04	(0.05)	−0.11	(0.05)*
ISCED 3 – vocational track (with maturita)	0.07	(0.03)*	0.05	(0.02)*	0.12	(0.04)**	0.08	(0.04)*
ISCED 3 – technical track (with maturita)	0.11	(0.07)	0.00	(0.07)	0.28	(0.04)***	0.13	(0.05)**
ISCED 3 – academic track	−0.02	(0.06)	−0.08	(0.07)	0.09	(0.03)**	0.04	(0.03)
ISCED 4 or higher	0.21	(0.08)**	0.17	(0.07)*	0.56	(0.04)***	0.37	(0.05)***
Years of work experience			0.29	(0.07)***			0.09	(0.03)**
Female			−0.01	(0.08)			−0.24	(0.03)***
Immigrant			−0.08	(0.04)			−0.04	(0.03)
Numeracy skills			0.17	(0.12)			0.23	(0.03)***
Adjusted R^2	0.05		0.16		0.25		0.37
N	244		243		2138		2120
GERMANY
Qualification (ref: below ISCED 3)
ISCED 3 – dual education	0.39	(0.06)***	0.32	(0.07)***	0.14	(0.04)***	0.00	(0.04)
ISCED 3 – school-based VET	0.10	(0.06)	0.10	(0.06)	0.02	(0.02)	−0.01	(0.02)
ISCED 3 – academic track	−0.19	(0.07)***	−0.33	(0.07)***	0.03	(0.02)	−0.02	(0.02)
ISCED 4 or higher	0.24	(0.07)***	0.13	(0.07)*	0.54	(0.03)***	0.30	(0.04)***
Years of work experience			0.17	(0.09)			0.08	(0.02)***
Female			0.03	(0.08)			−0.32	(0.02)***
Immigrant			−0.19	(0.08)**			−0.01	(0.02)
Numeracy skills			0.37	(0.08)***			0.27	(0.02)***
Adjusted R^2	0.27		0.47		0.19		0.38
N	224		222		2670		2656

*p < .05 **p < .01 ***p < .001; βs are standardised coefficients; data source: PIAAC 2013

OECD. 2020. Education at a Glance. Paris: OECD Publishing.

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