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Research on educational inequalities has increasingly focused on interventions to increase enrollment in higher education for students from low social origins. However, students from low social origins may not be homogenous in their need for advice, as natives from low social origins decide less frequently to enter university than their immigrant counterparts in many European countries. Drawing on data from a randomized controlled trial in German schools, we find that, indeed, counseling in particular increases the likelihood of enrollment for native students. We then use the results of our empirical analyses to illustrate how an upscaling across schools would affect migration-specific enrollment rates of students from low social origins at the aggregate level. We discuss the implications of our results for research on migration-related inequalities in enrollment as well as for policy regarding program upscaling

This paper examines the effect of an intensive counseling program to promote college access of students who are eligible for college. Using data from an experimental panel study, we examine the average effect on university enrollment directly after high school graduation and the effect heterogeneity by educational background. No positive effect of participation is found. We discuss these results in relation to the potential of reducing inequalities by individual counseling in Germany.

Teachers with so-called migration backgrounds are often assumed to possess higher intercultural competencies or skills for more adequately dealing with migration-related diversity than other teachers. However, these assumptions of higher intercultural competencies, specific pedagogical orientations and attitudes have rarely been systematically empirically examined. On the other hand, such a utilitarian ethnicization is increasingly criticized by migration researchers in educational science in Germany as furthering stigmatization and deprofessionalization. Against this background, our paper aims to contribute to the lively discourse about teacher with so-called migration backgrounds. We start with analysing teacher data from the German National Education Panel Study (NEPS). Our analyses indicate that teachers with and without so-called migration backgrounds do not differ significantly in most respects. These findings led us to methodological considerations with regard to the (non-)usefulness of the statistical category of ‘migration background’ in educational migration research.

Given increasing maternal labour-market participation in many European countries, there is an ongoing scientific and public debate on the potential consequences for children’s development. Previous research has used both cross-sectional measures of maternal employment at a particular age of the child and measures capturing maternal employment history. Whereas the former approach cannot capture the cumulative impact of maternal employment on developmental outcomes, studies following the second approach have so far not accounted for the possibility that mothers may repeatedly change their labour-force participation in response to their children’s development or other dynamic context factors that are themselves affecting developmental outcomes. The present study combines statistical techniques that can account for time-varying confounders with cumulative measurement of maternal employment to investigate its link with children’s behavioural problems around age eight. In addition, our study explores whether the effect of maternal employment history differs by mothers’ education. Using data from the Growing Up in Scotland study, we find that children’s behavioural problems around age eight are the less pronounced the more years their mothers have worked full-time or part-time. However, these associations reduced in size once we adjusted for potential confounders and they do not significantly differ between mothers with and without a tertiary degree. These results suggest that the association between maternal employment history and behavioural problems around age eight is mostly driven by confounding factors such as maternal education, child health and socio-economic status.

Sociological research is increasingly using panel data to examine changes in diverse outcomes over life course events. Most of these studies have one striking similarity: they analyse changes between yearly time intervals. In this paper, we present a simple but effective method to model such trajectories more precisely using available data. The approach exploits month-specific information regarding interview and life-event dates. Using fixed effects regression models, we calculate monthly dummy estimates around life events and then run nonparametric smoothing to create smoothed monthly estimates. We test the approach using Monte Carlo simulations and GSOEP data. Monte Carlo simulations show that the newly proposed smoothed monthly estimates outperform yearly dummy estimates, especially when there is rapid change or discontinuities in trends at the event. In the real data analyses, the novel approach reports an amplitude of change that is roughly twice as large amplitude of change and greater gender differences than yearly estimates. It also reveals a discontinuity in trajectories at bereavement, but not at childbirth. Our proposed method can be applied to several available data sets and a variety of outcomes and life events. Thus, for research on changes around life events, it serves as a powerful new tool in the researcher’s toolbox.

Around the globe, the coronavirus pandemic has triggered various reactions of governments designed to contain the pandemic. Among other things, the pandemic led to an unforeseen and unprecedented closure of schools and daycare facilities. In turn, these closures might have forced parents to stay at home to care for their children who could not attend schools or kindergartens. From a social policy perspective, this raises the question of the extent to which parents’ employment has been affected, as time spent on childcare might make parents reduce their working hours. To answer this question, we exploit within-country variations in school and childcare policies across the federal states of Germany to analyse their effect on parents’ working time. In specific, we compare the working time of parents who live in different federal states with different restrictions regarding childcare in a difference-in-differences and difference-in-difference-in-differences framework. Our results reveal a non-negligible positive effect of an earlier and more far-reaching reopening of schools and daycare facilities on parents’ employment. Our results indicate that prolonged closure goes along with negative employment effects for parents. Hence, containment and closure policies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have substantial economic and social side effects.

This article examines class-specific employment patterns among students in Germany, taking into account how different local labour market conditions affect the quantity and quality of jobs available to students. We argue that the availability of jobs affects social inequalities in student employment. In particular, we expect a stronger correlation between, on the one hand, the rate and quality of student employment and, on the other hand, students’ socioeconomic background in towns with a large pool of student labour, due to more competition for (good) jobs. Analysing data from German student surveys, we find that employment rates do not differ by social class background, but there are differences in the quality of their employment in terms of the fit between the job and the field of study. While we find that local labour market conditions affect student employment at a general level, in contrast to our expectation, tighter labour market conditions seem to involve little or no disadvantage for students from less privileged social backgrounds.

This article examines the extent to which science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subject choice in upper secondary education explains gender differences in STEM enrollment in higher education. We adopt a cross-country approach using Germany, Ireland, and Scotland as three case studies. These countries differ in terms of both the degree of subject choice offered in upper secondary education and the relevance for higher education admission of having studied specific school subjects. Using datasets of young people from all three countries, our results indicate a stronger mediation of school subjects for Scotland than in Germany and Ireland and a remarkable gender gap in STEM enrollment in all three countries. We conclude that females studying science subjects within upper secondary education appears to be a necessary but not a sufficient condition to ensure gender equality in progression to STEM fields.

Objective: In this project, we study changes in the working hours of men and women with and without children in the early phase of the COVID-19 crisis in Germany until August 2020. Background: The COVID-19 outbreak in Europe led to a sharp decrease in economic activity, along with temporary closures of childcare facilities and schools. Subsequent changes in working hours in the early phase of the pandemic and during summer 2020 may have contributed to inequalities between men and women or parents and non-parents respectively. Method: We use a unique panel dataset containing monthly survey data of the Institute for Employment Research (the IAB-HOPP) combined with administrative data of the German Federal Employment Agency. We run regression models with the change in working hours (before the crisis vs. working time at each panel wave) as the dependent variable and gender, parental status, and childcare arrangement as the main independent variables. Results: We observe a comparable reduction in working hours for both men and women during the spring lockdown. However, only the working hours of women recover and return to their pre-crisis level in summer 2020. Most surprisingly, having children has an accelerating effect on recovery for mothers but not for fathers. At the end of the observation period, fathers do not recover as fully as mothers do. Conclusion: These results challenge concerns about a temporary or possibly persistent 're-traditionalisation' of gender roles during the COVID-19 crisis. Fragestellung: Wir analysieren die Entwicklung der Arbeitszeit von Männern und Frauen mit und ohne Kinder in der Anfangsphase der COVID-19 Krise in Deutschland. Dabei vergleichen wir Arbeitsstunden vor und nach dem Lockdown im Frühjahr 2020. Hintergrund: Der Ausbruch von COVID-19 in Europa führte zu einem erheblichen Rückgang ökonomischer Aktivitäten, der mit einer temporären Schließung von Schulen und Kindertagesstätten einherging. Die in der Folge eingetretenen Arbeitszeitveränderungen in der Anfangsphase der Pandemie und während des Sommers 2020 könnten dabei zu den Ungleichheiten zwischen Männern und Frauen bzw. Vätern und Müttern beitragen. Methode: Wir verwenden einen Paneldatensatz des IAB mit monatlich erhobenen Befragungswellen (das IAB-HOPP) dessen Befragungsdaten mit Registerdaten der Bundesagentur für Arbeit verknüpft wurden. Wir schätzen Regressionsmodelle mit der Arbeitszeitdifferenz (vor der Krise vs. jeweiliger Erhebungszeitpunkten) als abhängiger Variable und mit Geschlecht, Elternschaft, und der Art der Kinderbetreuung als unabhängigen Variablen. Ergebnisse: Während des Lockdowns im Frühjahr beobachten wir eine vergleichbare Reduktion der Arbeitsstunden für Männer und Frauen. Bis zum Sommer 2020 kehrt allerdings nur die Arbeitszeit der Frauen zu ihrem Vorkrisenniveau zurück. Besonders überraschend ist, dass für Mütter die Elternschaft die Rückkehr zur ursprünglichen Arbeitszeit beschleunigt, für Väter hingegen nicht. Entsprechend hat sich der Arbeitszeitumfang der Väter am Ende unseres Beobachtungszeitraums nicht im gleichen Umfang erholt wie derjenige der Mütter. Schlussfolgerung: Unsere Ergebnisse stellen Befürchtungen hinsichtlich einer im Zuge der COVID-19 Krise erfolgten zeitweisen oder möglicherweise sogar dauerhaften Re-Traditionalisierung der Geschlechterrollen in Frage.

Research on stratification and mobility has consistently shown that in the UK there is a direct impact of social origin on occupational destination net of educational attainment even for degree‐holders. However, only a few studies applied a longitudinal and dynamic perspective on how intergenerational mobility shapes graduates’ working careers. Using multilevel growth curve modelling and data from the 1970 British cohort study (BCS70), we contribute to this research by looking at the emergence of social inequalities during the first ten years since labour market entry. We further distinguish between graduates of different fields of study as we expect social disparities to develop differently due to differences in initial occupational placement and upward mobility processes. We find that parental class does not affect occupational prestige over and above prior achievement. Separate analyses by the field of study show that initial differences in occupational prestige and career progression do not differ between graduates from different classes of origin in STEM fields, and arts and humanities. It is only in the social sciences that working‐class graduates start with lower occupational prestige but soon catch up with their peers from higher classes. Overall, our results indicate no direct effect of social origin on occupational attainment for degree‐holders once we broaden our focus to a dynamic life course perspective.

The potential benefits of increased international experience abound, ranging from enriching cultural understanding to an improvement of language skills and intercultural competence. At the same time, empirical evidence is mixed, particularly with regards to how well international experience translates into individual returns on the labour market. This article examines the association between studying abroad and early labour market outcomes in a comparative perspective aiming to shed light on why labour market returns differ across countries. We expect labour market returns to vary with specific country characteristics such as demand for international experience and competition among graduates at labour market entry. In our empirical analyses, we use data from 13 European countries that provide information on graduates’ early labour market outcomes. We find a large variation in the impact of studying abroad on both wages and attaining a higher service class position. Generally, the labour market returns to international experience are larger in countries in Eastern and Southern Europe with poorer university quality, higher graduate unemployment, and fewer students abroad.

Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden Teilergebnisse aus dem Projekt „Fruhe Pravention von Studienabbruch“ vorgestellt, das die Auswirkungen eines Beratungsangebots zur Studienorientierung fur Schulerinnen und Schuler in der gymnasialen Oberstufe untersucht. Dabei wird die Frage beantwortet, ob ein eintagiger Workshop zur Studienberatung Unsicherheiten in der Entscheidungsfindung fur ein Studienfach reduzieren kann. Der Beitrag knupft damit an eine entscheidende Forschungslucke zur generellen Wirksamkeit von Studienberatung an. Die Ergebnisse unserer Studie mit randomisiertem Kontrollgruppendesign zeigen, dass Schulerinnen und Schuler, die noch keine Vorstellungen uber mogliche passende Studienfacher besitzen („generell Unentschiedene“) durch die Teilnahme an der Studienberatung eine erhohte Studienorientierung ausbilden. Der Workshop scheint dagegen weniger dazu geeignet, zur Entscheidungsfindung von Schulerinnen und Schulern beizutragen, die Probleme haben, aus verschiedenen in Betracht gezogenen Studienfachern eines auszuwahlen („spezifisch Unentschiedene“).

Women's life courses underwent substantial changes in the family and work domains in the second half of the twentieth century. The associated fundamental changes in opportunity structures and values challenged the importance of families of origin for individual life courses, but two research strands suggest enduring within-family reproduction of women's family behavior and work outcomes. We revisit this issue by studying two complementary types of intergenerational associations in women's combined work-family trajectories. On the one hand, we examine similarities across mothers' and daughters' work-family trajectories to address the direct within-family reproduction of female life courses (intergenerational persistence). On the other hand, we examine systematic associations between work-family trajectories that are typical in each generation to address intergenerational interdependencies beyond direct reproduction that account for individual and societal constrains and opportunities that each generation faced (intergenerational correspondence). We use a within-dyad approach to sequence analysis and examine combined work-family trajectories between ages 18 and 35 of two generations of women, born in 1930-1949 and in 1958-1981, within the same family drawn from the German Socio-Economic Panel. Overall, we find evidence of small but nontrivial persistence in work-family trajectories across generations that is partly attributed to within-family mechanisms of reproduction. In addition, we find correspondence across typical trajectory patterns of each generation, without daughters necessarily resembling their mothers' trajectories. The strength of the intergenerational associations varies by social background. Our research improves and broadens our understanding of the reproduction of female life courses across generations.

We acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grant No. RYC-2015-18254); the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Grant No. RTI-2018-097664-A-100); and the Support Network for Interdisciplinary Social Policy Research (FIS) of the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Women's life courses underwent substantial changes in the family and work domains in the second half of the twentieth century. The associated fundamental changes in opportunity structures and values challenged the importance of families of origin for individual life courses, but two research strands suggest enduring within-family reproduction of women's family behavior and work outcomes. We revisit this issue by studying two complementary types of intergenerational associations in women's combined work-family trajectories. On the one hand, we examine similarities across mothers' and daughters' work-family trajectories to address the direct within-family reproduction of female life courses (intergenerational persistence). On the other hand, we examine systematic associations between work-family trajectories that are typical in each generation to address intergenerational interdependencies beyond direct reproduction that account for individual and societal constrains and opportunities that each generation faced (intergenerational correspondence). We use a within-dyad approach to sequence analysis and examine combined work-family trajectories between ages 18 and 35 of two generations of women, born in 1930-1949 and in 1958-1981, within the same family drawn from the German Socio-Economic Panel. Overall, we find evidence of small but nontrivial persistence in work-family trajectories across generations that is partly attributed to within-family mechanisms of reproduction. In addition, we find correspondence across typical trajectory patterns of each generation, without daughters necessarily resembling their mothers' trajectories. The strength of the intergenerational associations varies by social background. Our research improves and broadens our understanding of the reproduction of female life courses across generations.

Gender segregation in vocational education and training (VET) in different occupations is observed in many European countries. This occupational gender segregation depends on – among other factors ...

Educational disadvantages of migrant students are a persistent problem in many Western countries. Against this background, policymakers often call for more diversity in the teacher workforce, assuming that migrant students might benefit from being taught by a migrant teacher. Despite the popularity of this claim, there is almost no research-based rationale for increasing the diversity of teachers in Europe. This paper is a step to fill this research gap for Germany. We aim to assess whether migrant teachers reduce ethnic educational disadvantages. Our analyses are based on the ‘IQB National Assessment Study on Languages 2008/2009’, a nationally representative large-scale assessment study of ninth-graders that provides information on migration status of both students and teachers. Our dependent variables are objective German language competence scores and teacher-assigned grades. Results run contrary to the widely held expectations. We find virtually no evidence that migrant students benefit from being taught by a migrant teacher.

Using longitudinal survey data from the Socio-Economic Panel Study ( N = 3,003 respondents with 22,165 individual-year observations) and exploiting temporal and regional variation in state-level unemployment rates in West Germany, we explore differences in trajectories of individuals’ self-rated health over a period of up to 23 years after leaving education under different regional labor market conditions. We find evidence for immediate positive effects of contextual unemployment when leaving education on individuals’ health. We find no evidence for generally accelerated or decelerated health deterioration when leaving education in high-unemployment contexts. We find, however, that individual unemployment experience when leaving education is associated with worse health and with more accelerated health deterioration in high-unemployment contexts. The cumulative experience of unemployment after leaving education does not mediate the influence of early labor market experiences for long-term health outcomes. In addition, our analyses indicate no gender differences in these results.

In this article, we examine social origin differences in employment patterns across different stages of higher education and compare these differences between vocational and academic fields of study. Using data from a large-scale German student survey, we study the development of inequality, according to social origins, in student employment from first-year to graduating students. We show that inequality in job quality exists and is partly attributable to the need for students from lower social origins to work in order to finance their studies. We hypothesise that initial inequalities decrease as students progress through higher education. While we find evidence for this hypothesis, we also show in multivariate models that the reduction of inequality in the student labour market is explained by prior differences between social origin groups.

Die Verlangerung und zunehmende Komplexitat des Ubergangs Mehrfachausbildungen und Diskontinuitaten zwischen Schule und Beruf ist ein Befund vieler empirischen Studien. Auf der einen Seite ist die Beteiligung in beruflicher Bildung sowie die Studierneigung im historischen Zeitverlauf gestiegen, was zwangslaufig zu einem langeren Verbleib im (Aus-)Bildungssystem fuhrt: So hat der Anteil der jungen Erwachsenen ohne Ausbildungsabschluss erheblich abgenommen (siehe den Beitrag von Solga in diesem Lehrbuch). Gleichzeitig hat sich die Beteiligung in nicht akademischen beruflichen Ausbildungen erhoht (siehe den Beitrag von Konietzka in diesem Lehrbuch) und sowohl die absolute Zahl der Studierenden als auch deren relativer Anteil in einer Alterskohorte stark zugenommen (siehe den Beitrag von Muller und Mitautoren in diesem Lehrbuch).

Research on social inequality and the family has indicated that partners are relevant to individuals’ labor market decisions. Unemployment is a particularly interesting issue in the partnership context because the ensuing loss of income may affect the entire family. Against this background, we examine how singles and couples differ in terms of unemployment duration and how a partner’s income and labor market–related resources influence re-employment. Considering the gender and class differences in labor market participation, we are particularly interested in variations in partner support between men and women in differing economic circumstances. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), we find that cohabitation accelerates re-employment, whereas marriage increases the prospect of re-employment only for men. More specifically, the partner’s labor market resources facilitate re-employment. Although partner income has no effect in absolute terms, unemployed men and women who were formerly minor earners refrain from reentering paid work. This pattern is more pronounced among low- and medium-income couples than among high-income families. Unemployment thus strengthens patterns of inequality both between and within couples.

The German system of post-school education and training is well-known for its high degree of standardization and stratification. Whereas transitions from this system to the labor market have been examined widely, much less is known about the transition patterns of school-leavers to post-school education. In particular, there is a shortage of research applying a comprehensive view of school-leavers from different tracks and investigating changing overall transition patterns over time. In our paper we fill this research gap by investigating school-leavers’ transitions to post-school education in West Germany over the last 30 years. Particular attention is given to the influence of contextual conditions, such as demographic fluctuations, economic cycles, and changes in the social composition of school-leavers. The empirical analyses are based on the retrospective life-course survey ALWA, which contains detailed information on the education and work trajectories of 10,000 adults in Germany. Our results show that school-leavers with low and medium attainment need more time to enter training when unemployment is high or when the school-leaver cohort is large. Overall, access to post-school education has become increasingly difficult for these groups, over and above the market shortages and the changes in group composition. By contrast, the transitions of school-leavers from higher secondary schools are unaffected by market fluctuations and long-term structural change. In the period looked at here, their chances remained almost stable. Accordingly, we conclude that the transition rates of school-leavers with different educational attainment have diverged in (West) Germany over the last 30 years.

This paper examines trends in school-to-work transitions of young men and women with lower and higher secondary education in West Germany between 1984 and 2005. This period was marked by an increase in young women’s educational attainment and a continuous growth of the service sector. We assume that both developments have benefited women more than men in terms of smooth labour market integration. Results from discrete event history analyses show that in recent years women indeed found their first job faster than men. However, this is not mainly due to an improvement in young women’s chances to enter employment, but to deteriorating employment prospects of men, in particular of unskilled men.

In a recent paper on gender inequality in higher education Buchman and DiPrete (2006) assume that the decrease in the gender gap in college completion in the US can partly be explained by changes in the allocation of familial resources in favour of women. However, they do not test this hypothesis empirically. In this paper I examine the effects of sibling sex composition on the graduation of women in more detail by analysing data from the German Life History Study. I assume that resources are the key issue to explaining the effects of sibling configuration on educational attainment. Tertiary education is a good case for testing sex composition effects due to the unequal distribution of resources between and within families, because the direct costs and opportunity costs of higher education are relatively high compared to those of earlier educational decisions. Accordingly, I expect that working class daughters are most likely to be disadvantaged if they are raised with brothers. The empirical results show that in fact, not the presence of a brother as such hinders educational attainment of sisters, but older brothers have a negative influence on their sisters chances of graduation. In accordance to the hypothesis, this effect is stronger for university graduation than for graduation at Fachhochschule. For social class differences in sibling effects it turns out that working class daughters are particularly less likely to graduate compared to service class daughters if there are older brothers in the family.

In recent decades institutions of higher education have changed considerably in most European countries. In order to meet the growing demand for higher education, national higher education systems have ‘‘diversified’’ through the creation of second-tier institutions, such as the Polytechnics in Britain or the Fachhochschulen in Germany. There is a large body of research concerned with the sources, development and internal dynamics of institutional differentiation in higher education (e.g. Teichler 1988, Huismann 1995, Meek et al. 1996, Huismann et al. 2007). In many countries higher education institutions also vary in reputation and prestige (e.g. Teichler 2008, Moodie 2009) and in some countries these differences have even been reinforced by educational policy during the last decades. Besides this vertical differentiation of institutions, horizontal differentiation within institutions of higher education can be observed also, i.e. a growing diversification of programmes, courses and fields of study. Different types of programmes such as academic versus professional programmes were introduced or different levels such as Bachelor and Master have been implemented. Not least due to the harmonisation efforts by the so-called ‘Bologna process‘, these forms of differentiation have been accelerated and have become increasingly relevant in European higher education systems. Although quite a number of recent publications deal with these institutional aspects of diversification in higher education, only a few studies examine the influence of a changing structure on the individual level, e.g. individual behaviour regarding choices and access to higher education, educational careers and labour market outcomes of different institutions. The simultaneous increase in overall participation in post-secondary education in most countries and institutional differentiation are presumably reflected in social selective access to the different institutions of higher education. There are two possible scenarios: Differentiation provides more opportunities in terms of programmes and levels, and less priviledged students are diverted to lower tiers whereas elite institutions remain highly

Graduating from university is just the final step of an extended educational career. Sociological transition research has revealed that final educational attainment must be understood as the result of a sequence of successive decisions. With regard to graduation from university, one has to take into account that upper secondary school qualifications are required for enrolling in the first place, and in Germany, the decision for this kind of schooling is at a much earlier age. So where on the long way to the university degree does Germany ‘lose’ its potential academics and in particular its lower class children? This paper presents a detailed picture of the life-course development of educational careers by analyzing the various steps of the collective educational history of a particular birth cohort. The paper takes account of both the country-specific institutional structures of the educational system and inter-individual variation in educational trajectories and combines both aspects in an analysis of the most relevant types of educational transitions associated with the ‘academic track’. Altogether, the transitions aggregate to the final number of graduates as well as to the observed level of inequality in educational attainment. In our empirical analyses, we are interested in both the overall selection at particular transitions and social differences in these transition patterns. We use survey data on participation and social selectivity in education. The paper confirms the usefulness of transition research for understanding the process of educational attainment; an analysis based on transitions is clearly superior to an analysis which focuses purely on stock figures of educational attainment. However, the paper also shows that conventional forms of transition research are often too simple as they assume an ideal-typical sequence of transitions during education. Educational careers in reality often deviate from this model. The number of young people (and in particular lower class children) who try to join the ‘academic track’ at least once during their educational career is much higher than the number of those who graduate successfully in the end. Accounting for the most relevant events helps to understand the quantitative and qualitative selectivity of the German educational system and may serve as a model for research on other aspects of educational inequality as well as on other educational systems.

Comparative studies describing the transition from higher education to work have often simplified the complex transition processes involved. In this paper we extend previous research by taking into account several steps that comprise labor market entry, e.g., recurrent education leading to more than one instance of labor market entry. By comparing Germany and the United States we also examine how the tertiary education systems influence these transitions via the mode of stratification (parallel tracks in Germany vs. consecutive tracks in the US), the coordination mechanism (state-controlled vs. market-based) and the degree of standardization in educational programs. In our empirical analyses using large-scale longitudinal survey data we find that transitions in the US are less standardized and regulated than in Germany. Furthermore, differences between students from lower- and higher-tier institutions are less marked than expected, both within and between the two countries.

Previous research has shown that track mobility during secondary education is influenced by parental background. However, family background effects might vary due to institutional variations in the educational structure. Therefore, in our paper we compare social selectivity of track mobility in two countries, Germany and The Netherlands. Both countries offer a hierarchically tracked educational system, but differ in details. Further, both countries established educational reforms in the late sixties, changing the conditions for track mobility differently. In our empirical analyses using data from the Family Survey Dutch Population and the German Life History Study we find that changing to a higher track is more likely for students who face the threat of status demotion, whereas changing to a lower track is independent of status maintenance motives. Intra-secondary transitions occur less often in The Netherlands than in Germany and are less motivated by status maintenance. Educational legislation reduces the effects of relative education of the parents only on upward mobility in Germany and only on downward mobility in The Netherlands.

This article deals with the question of how different resources affect the labour market integration of the young unemployed. Previous research has often focused on the effects of unemployment compensation benefits on labour market outcomes. However, for young unemployed people additional parental resources may be even more important. The article examines the effects both of unemployment benefits and family-related resources. The main hypothesis it advances is that individuals who have access to different resources will enter more stable jobs after unemployment than those lacking such different kinds of support. Using data from a longitudinal study on youth unemployment in Germany, I find that subsequent job duration increases with the receipt of unemployment benefits but decreases with parental support. Accordingly, benefits actually improve post-unemployment job tenure, whereas parental support functions rather as a ‘safety net’ enabling young people to quit a job.

Der Beitrag diskutiert die Moglichkeiten der Analyse der Entwicklung sozialer Ungleichheiten im Bildungsverlauf und beschreibt solche Entwicklungen exemplarisch anhand der Bildungsdaten einer westdeutschen Geburtskohorte. Konzeptionell werden zunachst zwei wesentliche chronologische Dimensionen im Bildungsverlauf unterschieden: zum einen die institutionalisierte Sequenz der Bildungsstufen, zum anderen das Lebensalter. Beide Dimensionen hangen zusammen, die individuelle Bandbreite unterschiedlicher Pfade und ubergange innerhalb einzelner Bildungsstufen erlaubt aber keine einfache Gleichsetzung. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden Theorien verglichen, die Veranderungen in herkunftsbezogenen Ungleichheiten im Bildungsverlauf zu erklaren versuchen, und Konsequenzen fur die empirische Messung von Bildungsungleichheiten im Lebensverlauf (bezuglich ubergangen und Bildungsverteilungen) erlautert. Im zweiten Teil des Beitrags wird auf der Grundlage aktueller Daten der Westdeutschen Lebensverlaufsstudie die Entwicklung herkunftsbedingter Bildungsreproduktion im Lebensverlauf einer Kohorte beschrieben. Die Analysen beziehen sich dabei auf den „akademischen Pfad“ von hoherer Sekundarschule und Hochschule. Die gemessene Ungleichheit variiert zwischen verschiedenen institutionell definierten Bildungsubergangen, kann sich aber auch innerhalb institutionell definierter Bildungsphasen verandern.

Zusammenfassung In Debatten um Bildung und Ausbildung in Deutschland wird immer wieder auf die Zunahme von Mehrfachausbildungen hingewiesen. Dieser Beitrag gibt aus einer individuellen Lebensverlaufsperspektive einen empirischen Überblick zu diesem Themenkomplex: Er beschreibt die Häufigkeit von Mehrfachausbildungen, ihre zeitliche und inhaltliche Struktur sowie die Personengruppen, die Mehrfachausbildungen unternehmen. Zu einem großen Teil führen zusätzliche Ausbildungen zu einer Höherqualifizierung. Daneben zeigt sich u. a. die große Bedeutung der Berufsfachlichkeit auch für Kombinationen von Ausbildungen. Generell orientieren sich auch spätere Ausbildungen zu einem großen Teil an Merkmalen der Erstausbildung. Die Ergebnisse machen darüber hinaus deutlich, dass Mehrfachausbildungen interindividuelle Bildungsunterschiede eher vergrößern als kompensieren.

This paper analyses theoretically the decision to enrol in university under the conditions of certain educational systems. In particular, the impact of an institutional alternative of vocational training (as in Germany) and the possibility of combining vocational and academic training are examined. The comparison of educational systems shows how different types may give rise to social class differences in participation in higher education. [The authors] trace back this comparison to individual decisions after leaving upper secondary education which [the authors] represent by a formal model. Here, [the authors] can refer to theories that were developed to explain social differences in other kinds of educational transitions. Using a model of utility maximization, [the authors] specify the returns to education in the form of expected future income within a certain time. By introducing social differences in the relevant parameters, [the authors'] model offers an explanation of why school-leavers from different social origins have incentives to choose different educational paths. [The authors] also find evidence that the populations in different tracks might differ with respect to average achievement. Finally, [the authors] give a brief discussion on implications for further research.

This paper analyses the influence of social origin on graduates’ labour market outcomes one and five years after graduation. It can be expected that graduates from ‘soft’ fields such as the humanities may benefit from a privileged social background. In ‘hard’ fields, like engineering and life sciences, less strong effects of social origin can be expected. For the empirical analyses the authors use data from the HIS-graduate panel 1997 and 2001. The differences found between graduates from different social origin in relation to earnings and the achievement of a leading position can be completely explained by previous educational choices and experiences, in particular by field of study, grades and process of studying. Direct social origin effects can be discovered for the traditional professions only.

Wenn Arbeitslose nicht alleine, sondern in einer Partnerschaft leben, ist die gesamte Familie von den Folgen der fehlenden Beschäftigung betroffen. Dies wirft die Frage auf, welche Rolle der Partner oder die Partnerin beim Wiedereinstieg in den Arbeitsmarkt spielen. Zudem zeigt der Beitrag auf, wie sich die Arbeitsteilung zwischen Frauen und Männern im Falle von Arbeitslosigkeit verändert.

Es gibt nur wenige Untersuchungen, die eine umfassende Analyse zur historischen Entwicklung der Einmundung in die verschiedenen Bereiche der beruflichen Bildung liefern. In diesem Beitrag wird der Frage nachgegangen, ob sich die Chancen auf eine voll qualifizierende Ausbildung in den letzten 30 Jahren fur die unterschiedlichen Bildungsniveaus verandert haben. Hierbei interessiert einerseits, inwiefern demographische Veranderungen und konjunkturelle Schwankungen den sbergang beeinflussen, und andererseits die Veranderung der Zugangschancen von Schulabgangern mit unterschiedlichen Abschlussen. Datenbasis ist die IAB-Studie „Arbeiten und Lernen im Wandel“ (ALWA), in der rund 10.000 Erwachsene zu ihren Lebensverlaufen befragt wurden. Unsere Analysen zeigen, dass sich die Ubergangschancen in Ausbildung zwischen den Bildungsgruppen im Zeitverlauf auseinander entwickelt haben. Hauptschuler und Realschuler haben vor allem dann niedrigere Ubergangschancen, wenn die Arbeitslosigkeit hoch oder die Abgangerkohorte gros ist. Aber auch jenseits von konjunkturell und demographisch bedingten Engpassen und unter Kontrolle ihrer Zusammensetzung hat die Dauer des Ubergangs in Ausbildung bei diesen beiden Gruppen im Zeitverlauf zugenommen. Die Ubergange von Abiturienten sind dagegen unbeeinflusst von Marktschwankungen und dem langfristigen Strukturwandel im Verlauf der hier analysierten drei Jahrzehnte.

In Deutschland werden Kinder bereits im Alter von 10 bis 12 Jahren nach Beendigung der Grundschule in unterschiedliche Schultypen zugewiesen, in der Regel in eine der drei dominierenden Schulformen Hauptschule, Realschule oder Gymnasium. Die Zuweisung zu diesen Schultypen erfolgt vor allem auf Basis der vorherigen schulischen Leistung, aber dennoch steht in den aktuellen Debatten gerade diese fruhe Selektion im deutschen Schulsystem im Verdacht, soziale Ungleichheiten zu produzieren oder sogar zu verstarken, da die Eltern erheblichen Einfluss auf die Entscheidung nehmen konnen. Im Unterschied zu spateren Entscheidungen sind hier die Bildungsabsichten der Eltern besonders bedeutsam, da weder den Kindern selbst die notige Entscheidungskompetenz zugesprochen wird noch das zukunftige kognitive Entwicklungspotenzial bereits ganzlich abzusehen ist. Da es um eine weitreichende Entscheidung mit langjahrigen Folgen geht, spielen die eigenen Erfahrungen der Eltern mit dem Bildungssystem, ihre Bildungsaspirationen aber auch ihre Einschatzung uber mogliche Kosten und dem zukunftigen Nutzen der gewahlten Bildungslaufbahn neben den tatsachlichen schulischen Leistungen ihrer Kinder eine grose Rolle.

Die Autoren untersuchen in ihrer Studie, wie sich die Struktur der Wege zur Hochschule über die Zeit verändert hat. Davon ausgehend, dass im Zuge der Bildungsexpansion nicht nur der Anteil der Abiturienten zugenommen hat, sondern auch zunehmend unterschiedliche Ziele und Motive dem Erwerb des Abiturs zu Grunde liegen, vermuten die Autoren eine Ausdifferenzierung der Bildungswege. Zudem analysieren sie die Frage, wie sich soziale Ungleichheiten in den Übergangsmustern zur Hochschule im Zeitverlauf entwickelt haben. Mit den Daten der (west-) deutschen Lebensverlaufsstudie des Max-Planck-Instituts für Bildungsforschung betrachten sie Hochschulzugangsberechtigte verschiedener Geburtskohorten zwischen 1955 und 1971 daraufhin, wie stark ihr Bildungsweg von der Standardsequenz "Grundschule - Gymnasium - Studium" abweicht. Mittels Sequenzanalysen vergleichen sie dabei alle Bildungsmuster mit dieser Standardsequenz und untersuchen, wie sich Kohorten und soziale Herkunftsgruppen in Bezug auf ihre Ähnlichkeit mit dieser Standardsequenz unterscheiden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen keinen eindeutigen Trend, weder zu einer größeren Ähnlichkeit, noch zu einer zunehmenden Abweichung von der Standardsequenz "Grundschule - Gymnasium - Studium". Zwischen verschiedenen sozialen Herkunftsgruppen können jedoch deutliche Unterschiede in den Mustern festgestellt werden: Kinder oberer Klassen weisen z. B. eine größere Ähnlichkeit zur Standardsequenz auf als Kinder anderer Klassen. (ICI2)

"There are two broad trends in industrialised countries motivating this paper: On the one hand, the life phase between youth and adulthood has prolonged and diversified; on the other hand, entering the labour market has become more complex and insecure. In this paper we combine two aspects of these trends by analysing the effect of unemployment on leaving home. Extending previous research, we use a resource-oriented theoretical framework that allows us to elaborate the impact of employment related resources of different actors. Our main hypothesis is that availability of employment related resources matters for leaving home. Further we assume that several actors are involved in the decision for leaving home: individual, welfare state, parents and partner. Resources of each can be pooled, and resources of other actors can compensate for own shortages. In the analyses we use life history data of two birth cohorts in West Germany. We find that for young adults with partners own unemployment accelerates leaving home, while for singles leaving home is delayed. Parental unemployment or unemployment compensation benefits also have only an effect if young adults have no partners. Thus, partnership status plays a crucial role in shaping the transitions of youth to residential independence." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Bei den Analysen der vorangegangenen Kapitel stellte sich heraus, dass Manner deutlich haufiger eine weitere (hoher qualifizierende) Ausbildung beginnen als Frauen. Diese Beobachtung wird hier aufgenommen und ins Zentrum der Betrachtung gestellt, um den bisherigen theoretischen Uberlegungen und Ergebnissen eine geschlechterbezogene Perspektive hinzuzufugen.