Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/272529 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15902
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Does better access to foreign workers reduce firms' willingness to provide general skills training to unskilled workers? We analyze how the opening of the Swiss labor market to workers from the European Union affected the number of apprenticeship positions that firms provide. We exploit that the availability of foreign workers increased more in firms close to the border because they gained unrestricted access to cross-border workers from Switzerland's neighboring countries. Our Difference-in-Differences estimates suggest that firm-provided training to unskilled workers and access to foreign workers are not necessarily substitutes: opening the borders did not have a statistically significant effect on apprenticeship provision. Using unique data on firms' costs and motives to train apprentices, we show that the greater availability of foreign workers reduced firms' incentive to train because hiring skilled workers externally became cheaper, among others because new hires became more productive from the start. Positive impacts on firm growth worked in the opposite direction.
Subjects: 
apprenticeships
cross-border workers
firm-provided training
free movement of workers
hiring costs
immigration
immigration policy
labor mobility
vocational education and training
JEL: 
J24
J63
M53
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
2.59 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.