Irene Kriesi

ABSTRACT Young people’s gendered occupational choices are partly responsible for sex-segregation in the labour market, leading to unequal opportunities of young men and women. The choice of sex-typical occupations is particularly pronounced at the transition into vocational training. This transition is characteristic of dual educational systems prevalent in Switzerland or Germany. Current sociological theories (Charles & Bradley, 2009; Ridgeway & Correll, 2004) consider gender-essentialist stereotypes and beliefs about innate gender differences in abilities, held by young people and gatekeepers (e.g., parents, teachers, or employers), as important causes for gendered occupational choices and allocation processes. However, the exact mechanisms leading to gender-segregation at the transition into vocational training are still underexplored. Little is know about the role of gendered ability beliefs and aspirations vis-à-vis academic qualifications, which serve as institutionalized selection criteria of trainees. Against this background, our paper examines whether parents’ gender-typed ability beliefs, adolescents own values and aspirations as well as academic qualifications affect the probability that young people train in a gender-typical occupation at the age of 18. We extend previous research by distinguishing between two different types of male and female occupations. Our analyses make use of the Swiss Survey of Children and Youth COCON, a representative longitudinal study including a cohort of adolescents. The respondents were 15 and 18 years old at the time of data collection in 2006 and 2009 (N=952). The data also includes information from primary caregivers. Results are based on multinomial regression models run separately for men and women. They show that specific aspects of parents’ gender-typed ability beliefs promote the choice of different types of male or female occupations. In addition, gendered aspirations as well as educational qualifications are important explanatory factors. The latter highlights the role of institutional allocation processes in explaining occupational gender segregation at the transition into vocational training.

Abstract This paper addresses the mechanisms leading to income differences during the early career, both between individuals and between occupations. It compares the level of standardization, vocational specificity, and vertical differentiation of vocational education and training (VET) programmes and examines how these differences affect VET diploma holders’ incomes in their early careers. We go beyond previous research by developing refined theoretical concepts of vocational specificity, standardization, and differentiation and by measuring them with novel curriculum-based data. Theoretically, the paper assumes that training programmes’ institutional characteristics determine income by influencing diploma holders’ productivity as well as the signalling power of the degree. We test our hypotheses by combining institutional data from VET curricula with individual-level data from the Swiss Labour Force Survey and by applying multilevel regression analyses. The results show that the institutional dimensions, in particular vocational specificity, are multifaceted and consist of several subdimensions, which impact young workers’ incomes to different degrees at various time points during their early careers.

With the rise in women’s part-time work in many Western industrialised countries, a better understanding of women’s employment decisions necessitates the distinction between different employment levels and varying structural opportunities that facilitate or hinder female employment. This article analyses for Switzerland how structural factors affect women’s decisions to work marginal part-time, substantial par t-time, full-time or to stay out of the labour force. The analyses are based on the Swiss Labour Force Survey. The logistic regression findings show that labour market and firm-related opportunity structures affect the three types of employment levels differently. They also play a much larger role in the probability of working marginal part-time than in that of working substantial part-time or full-time.

Fur verschiedene westliche Lander zeigen jungere Studien auf, dass junge Frauen bildungsmasig junge Manner zu uberholen beginnen: Sie erzielen bessere Noten und sind in anspruchsvolleren Ausbildungsgangen ubervertreten (Bacher et al. 2008; Entwisle et al. 2007) Die Grunde, weshalb sich das Blatt zugunsten der Frauen gewendet hat, sind noch wenig erforscht. Angesichts dieser Sachlage stellt sich die Frage, ob Madchen schon zu Beginn ihrer Bildungslaufbahn, also bei der Bewaltigung des Schuleintritts, besser abschneiden als Knaben. Diese Frage stellt sich umso mehr, als nur wenige Studien die Voraussetzungen eines gelingenden Schuleintritts untersucht und dessen Bedeutung fur spatere schulische Leistungen und nachfolgende Bildungsubergange erforscht haben (siehe aber Entwisle et al. 2003, 2007; Faust/Rossbach 2004). Die vorliegende Studie leistet hierfur einen Beitrag, indem sie fur die Schweiz untersucht, wovon die Bewaltigung des Schuleintritts bei Madchen und Knaben abhangt und wie sich die Qualitat des Schuleintritts auf deren schulische Leistungen im mittleren Primarschulalter auswirkt. Die Analysen beruhen auf den ersten drei Erhebungswellen des Schweizerischen Kinder- und Jugendsurvey COCON (2004).

This article reviews the similarities and differences in the transition to adulthood in Europe. Recent change and the still striking diversity in pathways to adulthood in Europe have attracted growing comparative research interests. The considerable heterogeneity in institutional arrangements, cultural heritage, and economic life observed across contemporary European societies provides fertile ground for testing hypotheses of various macro-level theories and approaches addressing interactions between micro- and macro-level factors. Pursuing a comparative perspective, this review frames the transition to adulthood within a life course perspective. After having mapped the terrain of recent change and contemporary diversity in the transition to adulthood in Europe, the review presents the theoretical perspectives predominantly used to explain diversity and discusses whether the empirical evidence squares with the theoretical propositions. The review concludes by suggesting how future research could advance understanding of the complex nature of the transition to adulthood in Europe.

Swiss VET has a long tradition and is valued as an adequate preparation for labour market entry and for entry into vocationally oriented tertiary education (Cattaneo & Wolter, 2016). It represents the most important pathway into the labour market for Swiss youth, with two thirds of those finishing compulsory school enrolling in VET on upper secondary level (SERI, 2016, p. 11). The dual system, which combines apprenticeship training in a firm with lessons in vocational school and inter-company courses, provides highly specialized skill sets, which correspond closely to the competence profiles required in skilled workers positions. Thus, transition from VET to work is comparably smooth. However, not every diploma holder finds a (matching) job. In Switzerland there is a rising risk of unemployment and skill mismatch for young VET diploma holders. In some occupations there are considerable levels of youth unemployment (Salvisberg & Sacchi, 2014). Thus, there are substantial differences between education programs and training occupations in their capacity to integrate young skilled workers into the labour market. In international comparative research, differences in institutional characteristics of education systems have been used to explain different patterns of labour market entry. Cross-country-differences in institutional characteristics, such as levels of standardisation, stratification, differentiation, vocational orientation, occupational closure, institutional linkage andcertification have been proposed in order to explain why skill development and patterns of inequality at labour market entry differ between countries (Breen, 2005; de Lange, Gesthuizen, & Wolbers, 2014; Konietzka, 2002; Levels, van der Velden, & Di Stasio, 2014; van de Werfhorst, 2011; Wolbers, 2007). However, the mechanisms explaining national differencesbetween occupations are located at the level of national educational programs and can thus not be reliably tested with country comparisons. In other words, there is a lack of research regarding the mechanisms, which explain how different institutional contexts lead to differences in skill development and labour market prospects. Thus, data on within country differences in institutional characteristics is needed. Moreover, with this data it is possible to further explore segment specific or regional differences in the effects of institutional dimension, e.g. the opportunities within labour market segments.However, information on these within-country differences has hitherto been hard to obtain. Consequently, this topic is largely missing in recent research. Our aim is therefore to provide data on the differences in the institutional characteristics between Swiss upper secondary VET programs. We consider the following dimensions: exam standardisation, vertical differentiation, horizontal differentiation and vocational specificity. Apart from the fact that these dimensions have been fruitful when analysing school-to-work transitions in a comparative perspective, we have chosen these dimensions because they vary substantially between the training occupations of Swiss upper secondary VET. In addition information on these characteristics are easily obtainable in the curricula and ordinances of the training occupations. Seite 4 Theories on labour market integration point to two main mechanisms explaining why institutional dimensions should affect labour market outcomes. Firstly, it is assumed that institutional dimensions impact the skill and competence development of students, both in terms of the skill profile as well as the competence level. Secondly, with regard to the labourmarket, it is argued that the signalling power is affected by the institutional arrangements of each training program. The signalling power of a VET Diploma in turn shapes employers hiring decisions and influences job quality features, such as income or the probability for fixed-termcontracts, part-time employment or horizontal and vertical match. However, to explore these relationships further, the relevant institutional dimensions have to be defined and operationalized within a national framework. This paper describes the transfer of the theoretical concepts from the comparative literature to the Swiss VET context. In other words, we make suggestions on how to operationalize exam standardisation, vertical differentiation, horizontal differentiation and vocational specificity for Swiss upper secondary vocationaleducation and training.In the remainder of this paper we will give an overview of our theoretical framework and basic assumptions. Thereafter the existing literature regarding effects of institutional characteristics on skill development and labour market outcomes is briefly discussed. In these two sections, we will focus mainly on the theory and empirical evidence regarding labour market allocation. The collected data can, however, be used to investigate other aspects, such as career mobility, further…

ABSTRACT Our paper examines variation in individual job opportunities of Swiss men and women of two birth cohorts and the factors accounting for this variation. Differences in job opportunities and the structure of these have seldom been a topic of empirical research, mostly due to difficult and complex measurement issues. This paper contributes to this open field of research, first, by applying a measure for time-dependent individual job opportunities and, second, by analysing the extent to which individual job opportunities depend on supply- and demand-side factors. The analyses are based on two data sets. The Swiss Job Monitor provides annual occupation-level information on the number of advertised jobs, helping us to construct indicators for individual job opportunities and the overall labor demand. The Swiss Life History Study provides monthly individual-level information on occupational careers of two birth cohorts. We link the two data sets, transform the data into person-years and apply linear regression analysis. The results show that similar factors determine individual job opportunities of men and women. They depend on the overall economic situation, the occupational growth rate as well as on age, human capital, and occupational credentials. However, the respective weight of these factors differs for men and women. Demand-side factors play a more important role for men’s job opportunities. Supply-side factors – and occupational credentials in particular – seem to be more important for women.

This study investigates whether the informal competencies effort, exertion, perseverance and volition develop differently among youth who enter firm- or school-based vocational education and training or general education tracks, which offer distinct socialisation environments. The results show that the analysed competencies increase considerably after entry into vocational education and training. Young people in general education show a delayed development and only increase their informal competencies after the age of 18 years.

Résumé Fondé sur la théorie du capital humain et la théorie institutionnelle, cet article examine si les transitions vers la formation professionnelle supérieure dépendent des caractéristiques institutionnelles du programme de formation professionnelle initiale précédent. Les analyses empiriques utilisent les données de l'ESPA. Ces dernières montrent que les programmes de formation professionnelle initiale avec des nombreuses leçons à l'école professionnelle, horizontalement différenciés et très standardisés, augmentent la probabilité d'entrer dans une formation professionnelle supérieure. Summary Based on human capital and institutional theory, this article investigates whether transitions into professional education depend on institutional characteristics of the preced­ing initial vocational education and training program. The empirical analyses make use of the SLFS data. They show that vertically non­differentiated initial vocational education and training programs wi...

Upper secondary education in Switzerland is divided into a general and a vocational path. Approximately two thirds of adolescents attend the vocational path. The initial vocational education and training (IVET) can be combined with a federal vocational baccalaureate (FVB), which enables graduates to enter universities of applied sciences. The proportion of FVB holders varies considerably between Swiss regions. We study how admission regulations affect regional entry and graduation rates and how they interact with individual characteristics. We use longitudinal register data from the Federal Statistical Office to study individuals’ chances of pursuing and obtaining a vocational baccalaureate in combination with data about cantonal admission criteria to vocational baccalaureate schools. We find that higher admission barriers reduce individuals’ chances of pursuing a vocational baccalaureate, particularly among apprentices with low socio-economic status and those who pursue an FVB afte...

Ce rapport esquisse le contexte de la pression de tertiarisation (chapitre 2). Il présente la situation actuelle et les problématiques centrales des filières de formation menant au système tertiaire et aux hautes écoles (chapitre 3), avant de décrire les critères individuels débouchant sur des inégalités d'accès à la formation tertiaire (chapitre 4). Il évoque également les caractéristiques institutionnelles qui favorisent ou compliquent la perméabilité et donc l'accès au système tertiaire (chapitre 5). Le rapport se referme sur un bilan synthétisant les problèmes identifiés et les questions ouvertes (chapitre 6). Le rapport s'appuie sur les résultats empiriques d'enquêtes menées en Suisse.

Dieser Bericht skizziert die Hintergründe für den Tertiarisierungsdruck (Kapitel 2). Er stellt die heutige Bildungssituation und die zentralen Problemstellungen der Bildungswege ins Hochschul- und Tertiärsystem dar (Kapitel 3). Daran anschliessend werden individuelle Merkmale beschrieben, welche zu Bildungsungleichheiten beim Zugang zu einer Tertiärausbildung führen (Kapitel 4). Auch institutionelle Merkmale, welche die Durchlässigkeit und damit den Weg ins Tertiärsystem befördern bzw. erschweren (Kapitel 5), werden genannt. Der Bericht schliesst mit einem Fazit, welches die erkannten Problemstellungen und offenen Fragen zusammenfasst (Kapitel 6). Der Bericht stützt sich auf empirische Ergebnisse aus Studien für die Schweiz.

Gender segregation in education is still prevalent in Western countries. It affects young people's further educational trajectories and occupational attainment and is thus closely linked with gender segregation in the labour market and social inequality. This contribution provides an overview of the main segregation patterns, theoretical explanations and consequences of educational gender segregation. We first outline how gender segregation in education has been conceptualised and measured and summarise the patterns of gender segregation in secondary and tertiary education. We then review the dominant theoretical explanations of gender segregation in education: as a result of future-oriented rational choices, of present-oriented gender identity expression, social approval and gatekeeping, and of past socialization of interests, values and perceived skills. Furthermore, macro-level opportunity structures, such as cultural value systems and the structure of the education system and the labour market are discussed. After reviewing research on the labour market consequences of gender segregation, the contribution concludes with a discussion of the main gaps in sociological segregation research

Swiss VET has a long tradition and is valued as an adequate preparation for labour market entry and for entry into vocationally oriented tertiary education (Cattaneo & Wolter, 2016). It represents the most important pathway into the labour market for Swiss youth, with two thirds of those finishing compulsory school enrolling in VET on upper secondary level (SERI, 2016, p. 11). The dual system, which combines apprenticeship training in a firm with lessons in vocational school and inter-company courses, provides highly specialized skill sets, which correspond closely to the competence profiles required in skilled workers positions. Thus, transition from VET to work is comparably smooth. However, not every diploma holder finds a (matching) job. In Switzerland there is a rising risk of unemployment and skill mismatch for young VET diploma holders. In some occupations there are considerable levels of youth unemployment (Salvisberg & Sacchi, 2014). Thus, there are substantial differences ...