The labour markets of many industrialised countries are facing extensive technological and demographic changes. Digitalisation, networking, and robotics all transform the world of work and with it the demand for skills and qualifications. This development is accompanied by a decreasing number of young people undertaking vocational training. Instead, school graduates are increasingly pursuing academic qualifications. Furthermore, many regions are struggling to integrate refugees and people with a migration background into the labour market.

Vocational education and training (VET) is often valued for its ability to help young people transition smoothly from education to employment. VET also allows those already employed to adapt to the changing demands of their fields. Despite an increasing amount of research in this area, many questions in the field of the Economics of VET remain unanswered. These questions pertain to both the decision to invest in VET and the outcomes thereof on the individual, firm- and state levels.

Therefore, BIBB organizes a conference to bring together researchers from all fields of research on economics of VET and to discuss the most recent empirical and theoretical research results on this subject.
The official language of the conference is English.

Keynote Speakers

• Thomas Dohmen (University of Bonn)
• Gerard Pfann (Maastricht University)
• Heike Solga (WZB Berlin Social Science Center)

Scientific Committee

• Simon Janssen (IAB - Institute for Employment Research)
• Samuel Mühlemann (LMU Munich)
• Harald Pfeifer (BIBB)
• Wendy Smits (CBS – Statistics Netherlands)
• Thomas Zwick (JMU Würzburg)

Registration

Registration is open between the 15th of August and the 28th of October 2019.