Article,
Compressed, postponed, or disadvantaged? School-to-work-transition patterns and early occupationalattainment in West Germany
Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, (2016)
Abstract
We study school-to-work-transition (STWT) patterns and early occupational attainment for five WestGerman birth cohorts. Although these cohorts experienced very different macro conditions, their STWTswere facilitated by Germany’s strong vocational education and training (VET) system. The main researchquestion is whether linearity of STWTs differed across and within cohorts. Linearity concerns the norma-tively expected order of different activity statuses during this life phase. High linearity is ideal-typicallydefined as entering VET or tertiary education programs after leaving general education, followed byrather direct entry into employment. Non-linear patterns diverge from this ordering or may also includeother status activities, like unemployment and inactivity. We use data of the Adult Starting Cohort ofthe German National Education Panel Study (NEPS) and employ sequence analysis and regression meth-ods. Our analyses reveal that the proportion of young people experiencing the ideal-typical transitionpatterns increased over the cohorts. Yet, the degree of non-linearity (in terms of number of status activ-ities and status shifts, and some non-employment experience) of these ideal-typical STWT patterns alsoincreased over the cohorts. Moreover, we find strong differences between men and women in early occu-pational attainment. Higher-educated women in particular had higher risks of long-term disadvantage,whereas men were able to compensate for disadvantages by achieving higher educational attainmentand establishing themselves more quickly in the labor market.
