Personnel policy adjustments when apprentice positions are unfilled: Evidence from German establishment data

Abstract

Purpose

German establishments face increasing difficulties in filling their apprentice positions. Thus, firms are less able to train (and later retain) their own skilled workforce. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the firms’ personnel policy adjustments in response to unfilled apprentice positions.

Design/methodology/approach

To estimate the within-firm personnel policy adjustments when unfilled apprentice positions arise, fixed effects panel estimations are applied to a large German establishment-level data set, the IAB Establishment Panel (2008–2016).

Findings

The estimates indicate that some firms post slightly more apprentice positions in the period after facing unfilled apprentice positions. Moreover, the results reveal that affected craft establishments in urban regions retain more apprenticeship graduates. Besides of these findings, there are no indications of emphasised personnel policy adjustments.

Practical implications

The multivariate results do not support the claim that training firms may abstain from apprenticeship training when facing unfilled apprentice positions.

Originality/value

The study shows first evidence of firms’ personnel policy adjustments when apprentice positions remain vacant in Germany, a country with a traditionally high relevance of apprenticeship training.

Citation

Hinz, T. (2019), "Personnel policy adjustments when apprentice positions are unfilled: Evidence from German establishment data", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 40 No. 5, pp. 958-978. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-03-2018-0105