What are the costs and benefits of dual apprenticeship training for companies in Spain? A cost-benefit model of apprenticeship training is employed that was originally developed to calculate the costs and benefits borne by firms operating in Switzerland. This study seeks to simulate the potential costs and benefits that firms could bear if an apprenticeship training model similar to the Swiss one were to be introduced in the Spanish vocational education system. Based on the current standard model of vocational training in Spain, three simulation models are therefore developed that extend the c
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What are the costs and benefits of dual apprenticeship training for companies in Spain? A cost-benefit model of apprenticeship training is employed that was originally developed to calculate the costs and benefits borne by firms operating in Switzerland. This study seeks to simulate the potential costs and benefits that firms could bear if an apprenticeship training model similar to the Swiss one were to be introduced in the Spanish vocational education system. Based on the current standard model of vocational training in Spain, three simulation models are therefore developed that extend the current Spanish training model to resemble the conditions of the Swiss apprenticeship training model. These three models are applied to a selection of 10 different occupations from the following six sectors of the Spanish economy: the chemical industry, the automobile industry, the retail industry, the banking industry, the food industry and the hotel industry. For each of the 10 chosen occupations, the authors have calculated the costs and benefits of apprenticeship training under each of the enumerated simulation models. In addition, each model has been applied to two different wage scenarios.
The cost-benefit model employed in this study, furthermore, consists of three components: first, the costs that arise during the training period (e.g. training personnel, apprentice wages); second, the benefits that firms can generate during the training period by letting apprentices substitute unskilled and skilled workers (e.g. saved wages of unskilled and skilled workers); and third, the benefits that a firm can potentially generate after the training period has ended (e.g. the hiring costs of recruiting new workers from the labor market). The values of each component are calculated by using data from the most recent cost-benefit studies of apprenticeship training in Switzerland, and are complemented with Spanish labor market data.
The results of this simulation study suggest that participation in apprenticeship training could indeed entail net benefits for Spanish firms by the end of the training period, albeit with significant differences across sectors and occupations. In general, the study also shows that three-year programs yield more benefits than two-year programs. Finally, larger firms would benefit more from apprenticeship training than smaller ones.
Edited excerpts from publication.
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