IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/auu/dpaper/535.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

By Chance or Choice: The Regulation of the Apprenticeship System in Australia, 1900-1930

Author

Listed:
  • Thorsten Stromback

Abstract

This paper traces the process whereby the apprenticeship system came to be regulated by industrial tribunals during the period 1900 to 1930. It describes how the regulation emerged, the motives that underpinned it, and the wider political debate about the apprenticeship system at the time. It then goes on to assess the effect of this regulation. This assessment is informed by an underlying theoretical perspective and draws on the contemporary debate and the outcomes that can be observed. While the question of primary interest is the efficiency of the regulatory regime that emerged, broader considerations are invoked. What was set in place in the early part of the 20th century has continued to shape the how the apprenticeship system has developed since then. For that reason, the future development of the apprenticeship system may be a more relevant indicator of outcomes than the contemporary facts.

Suggested Citation

  • Thorsten Stromback, 2006. "By Chance or Choice: The Regulation of the Apprenticeship System in Australia, 1900-1930," CEPR Discussion Papers 535, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
  • Handle: RePEc:auu:dpaper:535
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cbe.anu.edu.au/researchpapers/CEPR/DP535.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lisa M. Lynch, 1994. "Training and the Private Sector: International Comparisons," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number lync94-1.
    2. Howard Gospel, 1994. "The Survival of Apprenticeship Training: A British, American, Australian Comparison," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 505-522, December.
    3. Steedman, Hilary, 1993. "The Economics of Youth Training in Germany," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 103(420), pages 1279-1291, September.
    4. Lynch, Lisa M. (ed.), 1994. "Training and the Private Sector," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226498102, April.
    5. Wendy Smits & Thorsten Stromback, 2001. "The Economics of the Apprenticeship System," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1886.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paul Ryan, 2001. "The School-to-Work Transition: A Cross-National Perspective," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(1), pages 34-92, March.
    2. Malcomson, James M. & Maw, James W. & McCormick, Barry, 2003. "General training by firms, apprentice contracts, and public policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 197-227, April.
    3. Stockinger, Bastian & Zwick, Thomas, 2016. "Apprentice Poaching in Regional Labor Markets," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145565, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Ludger Wößmann, 2008. "Efficiency and equity of European education and training policies," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 15(2), pages 199-230, April.
    5. O'Higgins, Niall, 2001. "Youth unemployment and employment policy: a global perspective," MPRA Paper 23698, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Ivo Bischoff & Julia Hauschildt, 2019. "Vocational schools as an instrument of interregional competition—Empirical evidence from German counties [Berufsschulen als Instrument im interregionalen Wettbewerb – Ergebnisse einer Analyse für d," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 39(1), pages 65-89, February.
    7. Zwick Thomas & Mohrenweiser Jens, 2015. "Youth Unemployment After Apprenticeship Training and Individual, Occupation, and Training Employer Characteristics," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 235(4-5), pages 418-432, August.
    8. Smits W, 2001. "Occupation Specific or Generic Skills? Conflicting Interests of Firms and Apprentices," ROA Research Memorandum 001, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    9. Cody, John, 2015. "How labor manages productivity advances and crisis response: A comparative study of automotive manufacturing in Germany and the US," GLU Working Papers 32, Global Labour University (GLU).
    10. Chéron, Arnaud & Hairault, Jean-Olivier & Langot, François, 2004. "Labor Market Institutions and the Employment-Productivity Trade-Off: A Wage Posting Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 1364, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. John S Heywood & Uwe Jirjahn & Annika Pfister, 2020. "Product market competition and employer provided training in Germany," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 29(2), pages 533-556.
    12. Maria De Paola & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2002. "Firms' Training Decisions and Unemployment in Italian Labour Markets," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 61(1), pages 103-126, June.
    13. Michael Gerfin, 2003. "Work-Related Training and Wages: An empirical analysis for male workers in Switzerland," Diskussionsschriften dp0316, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft.
    14. Naoki Shintoyo, 2008. "Creation of jobs and firm-sponsored training in a matching model of unemployment," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 93(2), pages 145-176, March.
    15. VILHUBERT, Lars, 1999. "Wage Flexibility and Contract Structure in Germany," Cahiers de recherche 9905, Universite de Montreal, Departement de sciences economiques.
    16. John Heywood & Uwe Jirjahn & Georgi Tsertsvardze, 2010. "Hiring older workers and employing older workers: German evidence," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 595-615, March.
    17. Del Bono, Emilia & Galindo-Rueda, Fernando, 2006. "The long term impacts of compulsory schooling: evidence from a natural experiment in school leaving dates," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-44, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    18. Anke S. Kessler & Christoph Lülfesmann, 2006. "The Theory of Human Capital Revisited: on the Interaction of General and Specific Investments," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(514), pages 903-923, October.
    19. Steffen Müller & Renate Neubaeumer, 2018. "Size of training firms – the role of firms, luck, and ability in young workers’ careers," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(5), pages 658-673, August.
    20. Daron Acemoglu & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 1998. "Why Do Firms Train? Theory and Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(1), pages 79-119.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    apprenticeship; trade unions; arbitration; Australia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • M53 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Training
    • N37 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Africa; Oceania

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:auu:dpaper:535. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cpanuau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.