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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused one of the worst economic crises since the Great Depression. Although countries responded quickly to support displaced workers with assistance packages and funding for education and training, additional measures might be needed. Each country's economic recovery will most likely depend on how well its workforce is prepared to meet the needs of the changed labor market. Providing workers with opportunities to upskill or reskill is of major importance in meeting these challenges and improving low- and middle-skilled workers' reemployment prospects. This qualitative study examines measures taken in response to COVID-19 in adult education and training (AET) in seven countries. The findings are based on key informant interviews with international experts and online sources they provided. Some countries have increased government funding for vocational and continuing education or offered financial support for post-secondary students while others have provided funds to employers to offer training and retraining for their employees. [This paper was published in: "Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning" v23 n1 p201-210 Jun 2021.]

The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is a cyclical, large-scale study of adult skills and life experiences focusing on education and employment. Nationally representative samples of adults between the ages of 16 and 65 are administered an assessment of literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology rich environments, as well as survey questions about their educational background, work history, the skills they use on the job and at home, their civic engagement, and sense of their health and well-being. The results are used to compare participating countries on the skills capacities of their workforce-aged adults and to learn more about relationships between educational background and employment and other outcomes. PIAAC is coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and developed by participating countries with the support of the OECD. PIAAC was first administered in 2011-12 in the United States and 23 other countries. The purpose of this report is to present selected results from the first and second rounds of the U.S. PIAAC household data collection (PIAAC 2012/2014). PIAAC results are reported in two ways: (1) as scale scores (estimated on a 0-500 scale) in the three domains of literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments; and (2) as percentages of adults reaching the proficiency levels established for each of these domains. PIAAC reports five proficiency levels for literacy and numeracy (Below level 1, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4/5) and four levels for problem solving in technology-rich environments (Below level 1, Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3). The OECD provides detailed descriptions of the types of skills that can be performed at each level. For example, adults at Level 1 in literacy can "read relatively short…texts to locate a single piece of information that is identical to or synonymous with the information given in the question or directive" and can "enter personal information onto a document" when "[l]ittle, if any, competing information is present." However, adults at Level 1 typically are not successful performing skills at the higher levels (e.g., "compare and contrast or reason about information requested" or "navigate within digital texts to access and identify information from various parts of a document," both of which are Level 2 literacy skills). Appendix B provides the OECD's detailed descriptions of these levels along with examples of assessment items at each level. This report follows OECD reporting conventions by combining the top two proficiency levels (Levels 4 and 5) for the literacy and numeracy scales (OECD 2013). Across all countries, only 2 percent or less of adults performed at Level 5 in literacy and numeracy. This report also provides an international average for scale scores and proficiency levels for variables that are internationally comparable. The international averages in figures 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 represent the averages for all participating countries and regions shown in this report and may differ slightly from the international averages reported in the 2012 NCES "First Look."

The Commission on Education and Employment Opportunities for Young People (Youth Commission) aims to find ways to improve education and employment opportunities for England's 16-24-year olds. The Commission's first report (see ED604277) identified five key challenges: (1) Better supporting 700,000 young people not in education, employment or training; (2) Increasing the number of people qualified to at least Level 3; (3) Improving attainment in literacy and numeracy and other basic skills; (4) Creating a diversity of higher level learning routes through life; and (5) Support job quality, career progression, and economic security. This report provides case study evidence of national and international approaches to youth education and employment, contextualising them in the current situation in England, and drawing out key lessons. These case studies (from Switzerland, Glasgow (Scotland), Germany, Newcastle (England), France, Spain, US, and the UK) offer lessons both in building programmes, and in designing systems in which such programmes can be delivered. Taken together they provide a framework for exploring ways in which an effective and integrated system for delivering practical, sustainable and valuable support for young people can be created. [The Learning and Work Institute's Youth Commission will run for one year and is supported by Association of Colleges, Capital City Colleges Group, London SouthBank University, NOCN and Prospects.]

The equality of the opportunities available to males and females in Germany's labor market was examined. The study compared employment patterns among women and men and the extent to which selected discretionary benefits of Germany's Federal Employment Service benefit women and men. Selected results were as follows: (1) women are under-represented in integration and recruitment subsidies compared with their share of the unemployed but over-represented in measures of vocational training and job creation measures; (2) especially in western Germany, long-term unemployed women are more strongly under-represented in integration and recruitment subsidies than are women overall; (3) older women are over-represented in measures of further vocational training and job-creation measures; (4) in some cases, the employment status rates of women are clearly higher in western Germany; (5) women's rates of successful integration into the labor market after completing further training are lower than those of men; and (6) women in eastern Germany assess the benefit of the training measures for taking up employment more critically than women in western Germany do. The study recommendations included calls for a gender-specific monitoring system of Germany's employment and training schemes and for inclusion of women in integration and recruitment subsidy schemes. (Six tables/figures and 40 references are included.) (MN)

Job placement, unemployment insurance, and active labor market policy in Germany were reviewed. The following were among the review's main conclusions: (1) measures of active and passive labor market policy are still regarded as important to combating unemployment and improving the matching function of the German labor market; (2) the many different instruments of active labor market policy that are in use in Germany have been only slightly "modernized" in Germany's new Job-AQTIV Law, which emphasizes activation of the unemployed and follows the trend observed in other countries of brining together elements of active and passive labor market policies; (3) Germany's multitude of instruments of active labor market policy and their high cost are partly due to the events following Germany's unification; (4) unemployment remains high in the eastern part of Germany, and only parts of its economy can stand up to competition on the world market; and (5) Germany's high degree of intervention in the labor market is intended to ease the labor market situation and make it socially more acceptable. It was concluded that measures of active labor market policy will likely result in a redistribution of the risks of unemployment rather than in a lasting reduction of the unemployment level. (Contains 41 references.) (MN)

The labor market effects of employment protection were examined in a study of Germany's employment protection regulations and their impact on employment practices and patterns. The following topics were considered: (1) the question of whether Germany's labor market problems are a result of regulations; (2) employment security as a subject of labor market regulation; (3) labor-economics criticism of employment protection; (4) the labor market effects of employment protection regulations in Germany and in other member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development; and (5) empirical and theoretical contradictions of the law and economics of employment protection. The study concluded that the labor market effects of employment protection regulations are frequently overrated. If the statistical relationship between a low regulation level and high economic growth is disregarded, there is little evidence that regulation strictness has an effect on levels of employment and unemployment. The study's empirical and theoretical findings were said to provide no justification for large-scale deregulation of employment protection legislation. However, several adjustments in economic policy in response to recent changes in Germany's economic structure were recommended. (Three tables of data related to the relationship between growth and the labor market are appended. The bibliography lists 20 references.) (MN)

This paper presents key indicators of educational and employment status for students making the transition from adolescence to early adulthood in selected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The data that are presented include international comparisons of student achievement, educational attainment, literacy and unemployment among young adults. Data on expenditures for education are presented as a measure of national investment in education. It is a selective account, presenting data on important educational markers from international surveys and collections, offered as representative of key aspects of transitioning from education to the workforce in each country. To ensure comparability of data across countries, the data are derived from international surveys, or data collection efforts in which data have been harmonized. The time frame to which the data refer is the middle of the 1990s, between 1994-96. The countries chosen for comparison are OECD members that are representative of the regions of Europe (Northern, Central, Southern, and Eastern), English-speaking countries, and Asia. The coverage of countries varies by source, as the same countries did not participate in each of the surveys and data collections. However, every effort was made to include seven countries that are of particular interest, and they are the focus of the discussion in the text and appear in the figures when data are available: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Italy. An appendix presents: Description of School Systems in Seven Countries.

The evolution of Germany's dual apprenticeship system and the challenges now facing it were reviewed. The following topics were considered: (1) the progression from craft guilds to vocational training; (2) the history of Germany's dual apprenticeship system from its organization in the 1970s; (4) apprenticeship in the dual system; (3) Germany's education system; (5) regulation of vocational training; (6) financing and the cost of training; (7) adjusting skills to new requirements; (8) regulation of the apprenticeship placement system; (9) continuing vocational training in Germany; (10) new challenges for today's dual system; (11) apprenticeship in Germany's Eastern Lander; (12) apprenticeship as a strategy for fighting youth unemployment; (13) Quebec's apprenticeship system; (14) an overview of apprenticeship in Canada; and (15) a comparison of the German model of apprenticeship to models in other countries. The success of Germany's dual apprenticeship system was attributed to the fact that it does not compete against itself by attempting to solve the problems of adjusting to changes in the labor market by creating branches that are parallel to system's existing branches and thereby undermining the value of the existing system or creating "upward competition through higher-level training programs." (Contains 12 tables/graphs, 33 endnotes, and 36 references.) (MN)

A study explored how young adults experience control and exercise personal agency (self-determination) as they pass through periods of transition in education and training, work, unemployment, and in their personal lives. Data were gathered through structured questionnaires administered to at least 100 young adults from universities and companies, and among unemployed young people in each of these three contexts in two localities in Germany and one in England that were experiencing economic transformation. In addition, 21 group interviews were carried out involving 136 participants from these groups. First findings from the study showed that choice and uncertainty can be important dimensions in young adults' biographies in the current moment. Their experiences and actions are not exclusively determined by socializing and structural influences, but also involve elements of subjectivity, choice, and agency. The research is expected to contribute to understanding of the process involved in becoming independent and personally effective in different settings. It is also expected to add to the debate about the most effective ways to support transitions in early adult life. (Contains 19 references.) (KC)

Official German unemployment statistics were analyzed along with data from Germany's microcensus and other published sources to identify recent labor market trends and to clarify the relationship between qualifications and employment opportunities in the new German economy. The analysis revealed that, as has been true for years, the lower the qualification levels of Germans, the poorer their position in the labor market. Whereas university and polytechnic graduates were able to gain jobs continuously throughout the 1990s, the labor market opportunities of Germans without a vocational training qualification deteriorated steadily. In 1997, nearly one in four people in western Germany and one in two people in eastern Germany with no vocational qualification were unemployed. Sharp decreases in opportunities in the manufacturing sector have occurred throughout Germany. Western Germany has gained nearly 1.3 million jobs in the service sector; however, similar increases have not occurred in Germany's eastern regions. Since Germany's reunification, the labor market situation of men in the old Lander has deteriorated considerably. In the new Lander, on the other hand, the decline in employment hit women hardest (at least until the mid-1990s). (The bibliography contains 27 references. Appended are tables detailing qualification-specific unemployment rates by gender, region, and qualification level.) (MN)

In the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Denmark, employment trends have been considerably more favorable than in Germany. A country is considered successful in an employment policy context if unemployment is falling steadily or is low and if employment is increasing steadily or the employment rate has reached a high level. Everywhere, low-skilled workers are affected by unemployment to a disproportionately high degree. In the United States, a lower rate of economic growth is sufficient to trigger a one percent increase in employment. The employment threshold, the level of economic growth that triggers an increase in employment, is close to zero in the United States. In Germany, the employment threshold is a Gross Domestic Product growth of about two percent and shifting upward. The Netherlands and the United States show the highest increases in employment. Increases in the Netherlands are due to increased part-time employment predominantly among women who previously had a low labor force participation rate. In both countries, the increase in the population of working age people plays an important role. In regards to wage disparities, the European countries differ from the United States, where the disparities were considerably greater at the upper and lower ends and have increased even further over time. Common features for employment policy success are the following: (1) a comprehensive macroeconomic approach; (2) a favorable framework for investment and consumption; (3) liberalized markets for goods and services; (4) decentralized systems of wage determination; and (5) moderate wage increases. (YLB)

Since 1994, the German public employment service has not had a monopoly on placement. A new law permits private job placement as an independent activity, but only with a license from the public employment service. Since deregulation, the number of job placement licenses has increased continuously, but the number of placements made by private agencies has remained relatively constant at 170,000-180,000 per 6-month period. Short-term placements constitute a definite emphasis of private agencies' activities. Although the number of placements in employment relationships exceeding 7 days has increased from a very low level, they hardly play an important role in quantitative terms. Only 4 percent of all placements made in the national economy could be attributed to private job placements in 1996. The market share of private recruitment is no more than 1.5 percent. The relationship of public and private placement services has a qualitative dimension. Public placement services no longer must deal with cases that can be adequately served by the market and can concentrate limited resources on issues for which the market cannot offer solutions. Target group orientation is not yet fully used. Cooperation between public and private placement services has been rare. The employment-creating effects of job placement activities are likely to remain relatively slight. Two figures, and 8 tables are appended. Contains 21 references. (YLB)

The actual and desired working hours of women in western and eastern Germany were examined by surveying a random sample of 6,742 western and eastern German women aged 18-65 years. Of the women interviewed, 1,800 from western Germany and 1,341 from eastern Germany were in dependent employment. An overall response rate of 52.8% was achieved. Eighty-four percent of respondents in full-time employment in the West and 85% in full-time employment in the East were satisfied with their working hours. Only 16% and 15% of women employed full-time in the West and East, respectively, desired to work fewer hours. Of the women in part-time employment in the West, 27% considered themselves underemployed, 11% considered themselves "overemployed," and 62% were satisfied with the hours they worked. Of the women in part-time employment in the East, 55% considered themselves underemployed, 5% considered themselves "overemployed," and 40% were satisfied with the hours they worked. In the West, 58% of women who were not working were satisfied with their situation and 42% wanted to work. In the East, on the other hand, 80% of those who were not working wanted to work and only 20% were content not working. (Twenty-one tables/figures and 24 references are included.) (MN)

On average, unemployed U.S. citizens remain jobless for much less time than their European counterparts do. The relatively low level of unemployment in the United States is attributable to two factors: a social protection system that offers far less protection than those in Western Europe do and a broad range of job openings. The fact that employment growth in the United States has far exceeded that in Germany cannot be explained by superior economic growth. The recent employment growth in the United States has not resulted in an increase in national income; rather, the national income is being divided among more people. Average wages have stagnated, and the wage differential between the upper and lower income brackets has increased. Most growth in employment in the United States has been concentrated in the services sector, where income is often either low or well above average. Policymakers seeking to stimulate employment in Germany must not ignore the high costs of the recent positive employment trend in the United States: increasing wage disparities, social inequality, and high levels of poverty. General wage restraint, redistribution and greater flexibility of working hours, and (possibly) a negative income tax for low earners can also stimulate employment. (Contains 71 references.) (MN)

The feasibility of policies encouraging more part-time employment as a cure for unemployment in Germany was examined through a comparison of the employment policies and labor markets of selected Organization for Economic Development (OECD) countries and the United States. OECD labor force statistics for the years 1972-1992 were analyzed to determine the following: patterns of part-time employment among men and women; the effect of part-time employment on the labor market; and factors determining the evolution of part-time work (structural changes in various sectors of the economy and gender-specific characteristics and behavioral aspects of employment). On the basis of the international comparison, it was concluded that a considerable potential for part-time work is still lying dormant in Germany. A shift-share analysis established that even anticipated structural shifts toward a service society and the expected increase in labor force participation by females will not, by themselves, drastically expand part-time work. Several policy approaches to promoting part-time work were suggested, including making child care and parental leave more available and offering financial incentives to encourage the creation of more part-time jobs. (A description of the shift-share analysis procedure is appended, and the 16 papers published in this series are listed.) (MN)

This paper examines the definition of "young people" and asserts there is no clear-cut social description of this group with societal expectations differing from culture to culture. The article analyzes the changes affecting the lives of "youth" in Germany and assesses their social attitudes and values. The contents include seven sections: (1) "'Young People in 1995'--Who Are They, What Sets Them Apart?"; (2) "Young People and Drugs"; (3) "Young People and Violence"; (4) "Young People and Unemployment"; (5) "Youth Assistance"; (6) "The Majority: Optimistic, Open and Active"; and (7) "Would You Like to Know More? (Suggested Reading)." (EH)

Young women perceive themselves today as equally entitled, active citizens of society. Women's interest in helping to shape politics and society has grown. The German Women's Council, an umbrella organization of about 100 German women's associations, commemorates this year the 100th anniversary of the death of Louise Otto-Peters, the founder of the first General Women's Association in 1865. The demand for equal rights is still very topical 130 years later. Women's legal status has improved slowly. Concrete steps have been the reform of the divorce law, the right to a child-upbringing holiday, and reform of the pension law. The Second Equal Rights Act in force since September 1994, which embodies important improvements for women in work and society, is a substantial advance. In-school and vocational training has become a taken-for-granted part of female life. However, women continue to have disproportionately smaller shares of senior positions in federal authorities. Fewer women are self-employed. They earn less than men and have more part-time positions and a higher unemployment rate. On the other hand, the Maternity Protection Act provides protection for pregnant working women and the Marriage Act reform of 1977 has improved the situation of the nonworking wife through pension equalization. The phrase "poverty is female" is increasingly losing its bite because of better legislation. (YLB)

This monograph examines vocational training (VT) in the Federal Republic of Germany. Section 1 presents background information/framework data on the following: Germany's political and administrative structures, population and demographic trends, economy and employment, and education system. In section 2, the historical development of VT in Germany is traced from the Middle Ages through German unification in 1990. Discussed in sections 3-7 are the following: initial VT (definition, Germany's dual system, VT in schools, special forms of initial training, and programs conducted by labor authorities); continuing VT (continuing VT's basic data and structures, target groups/participants, providers, personnel, and legal structural conditions); organization and responsibilities (organization and competence structure in the dual system, collaboration between employers and employees, and competent authorities of continuing VT); financing of VT in enterprises, schools, and external (non-plant) training centers, financing of the promotion of VT through the Federal Labor Office, and financing authorities dealing with VT; and developments and future prospects (problems/trends/developments in the new Lander, VT, and continuing VT and international dimensions in VT). Thirty-five tables/figures are included. Appended are the following: 32-item bibliography; bilingual list of selected institutions, legislation, and key terms; and lists of important addresses, key terms, and related publications (in languages other than German). (MN)

Job training is a powerful tool for growth, but only if embedded in a climate of pro-growth policies that it complements. To attract capital to create growth and jobs, a country has to offer favorable supply side conditions. A skilled labor force is one of several important supply side categories, whose growth effects are strongest when the other supply side conditions are favorable as well. Four reasons for paying special attention to human capital are as follows: trying to be as good as the best; higher wages justified by higher productivity; capital-intensive, labor-saving, technology-intensive production processes that require highly skilled labor; and an educational continuum for those willing to work for lower wages and the academically trained high achievers and everyone in between. German vocational training is a mass apprenticeship system run by the private sector within a public-private partnership. Trainees in all sectors of the economy usually begin training right after leaving school. Youth training is the best unemployment insurance and the best weapon against youth unemployment. It works best when it is work-based, performance-oriented, structured learning. The vocational system must not foreclose the option of apprentices to go to college. Germany is currently building a new system that combines academic and practical training and fills the gap between traditional vocational training and the university--the Berufsakademie (professional academy). A variant is already practiced in Singapore. (Eleven tables are appended.) (YLB)

A study examined the current status and likely future of trade unions in the German Trade Union Federation. The study focused on the following topics: unions as part of a social partnership, unions as partners in self-administration, collective pay policy against unemployment, plant reorganization and its impact on work and wages, the trend toward increasing part-time employment, flexible working hours, company pension schemes and invested wages, the basic problem of long-term unemployment, efforts to avoid a downward spiral in employment and wages, upheaval in Germany's unions, union efforts to gain more members, and union members with foreign passports. The study established that, within a 2-year period, union membership decreased from 11.8 million to 10.3 million. Membership losses were especially high in eastern Germany. The future of the federation as the umbrella organization of Germany's trade unions was being questioned by several branch unions that are seeking more powers at the local level and expressing a desire to integrate with certain other branch unions. Despite the internal problems facing the German unions, their stabilizing function in the economy and society as a whole still remained evident. (A list of the federation's 16 branch trade unions with membership numbers is included.) (MN)

In the last 5 years, almost 1.5 million immigrants of German origin have come to Germany. They consider their immigration a return to their homeland. Nevertheless, their social integration is not without problems. Many of the immigrants have little knowledge of German, their values are not related to today's Germany, and Germans increasingly perceive these newcomers as competitors for scarce economic resources. The immigrants' vocational training and work experience does not comply with German requirements, making it more difficult for them to find jobs. More training is required for them to enter most occupations. Unemployment is higher than for native Germans; however, unemployment has increased less among the immigrants than among native Germans because they are willing to accept any type of job. It is likely that more of the immigrants will have to continue to work at occupations below their skills in the future as economic hardships in the country continue. (KC)