Morlet, G., Bolli, T., 2025. The Moderating Effect of Firm-Specificity on the Impact of Unemployment on the Demand for Apprentices: Evidence from Switzerland, Early View, Labour. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/labr.70000.
Morlet, G., Bolli, T., 2025. The Moderating Effect of Firm-Specificity on the Impact of Unemployment on the Demand for Apprentices: Evidence from Switzerland, Early View, Labour. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/labr.70000.
This paper evaluates how firm-specificity of apprenticeship training, equivalently firm-specificity, moderates the response of the demand for apprentices to the unemployment rate. We first present a simplified conceptual framework to illustrate mechanisms through which this moderating effect could occur. We then empirically analyse the impact of unemployment on the demand for apprentices, and the abovementioned moderating effect.
Using Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood methodology, we exploit monthly variation in the unemployment rate within sectors and cantons. We find that the unemployment rate is insignificantly associated with the demand for apprentices overall during the COVID19 period in Switzerland. We subsequently use a firm-level survey conducted before COVID19 to construct three measures of firm-specificity. Using each measure, firm-specificity significantly moderates the effect of unemployment rate on demand for apprentices. A rise in the unemployment rate statistically and economically significantly reduces the demand for apprentices for firms imparting less firm-specific training. On the other hand, a rise in the unemployment rate statistically and economically insignificantly affects demand for apprentices within firms imparting more firm-specific training. Our results are robust to the use of multiple measures of firm-specificity and to the inclusion of controls capturing exposure to the pandemic and its economic support measures.
Morlet, G., Bolli, T., 2024. Working from home is here to stay, but how does it affect workplace learning? Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics 160,4.
This paper analyses how working from home affects workplace learning in terms of theoretical and practical knowledge during COVID19. We employ panel data gathered in monthly surveys of respondents in training companies between October 2020 and March 2022 to investigate this question. Apprentices in Switzerland are our case study.
We address potential endogeneity concerns in two ways. First, we exploit variation across survey respondents and time in two-way fixed effects models. Second, we pursue an instrumental variable “shift-share”-type approach that leverages how occupations react to exogenous changes in working from home regulations. The results suggest that working from home has a significantly negative impact on practical knowledge but not theoretical knowledge, relative to frequenting the workplace. We do not find significant heterogeneity across company size. Similarly, our results do not vary significantly between occupations in which working from home is relatively more or less prevalent. Our findings remain robust to a wide range of robustness checks. Our evidence-based recommendations aim to preserve the acquisition of knowledge through workplace training.
Morlet, G., Caves, K., 2024. Gendered Choices of Labour Market Integration Programmes: Evidence from the United States. Evidence-Based Human Resources Management, 13(2).
The United States implemented competency-based Registered Apprenticeship (CBRA) in 2008 to address skills mismatches and the chronic gaps traditional time-based Registered Apprenticeship (TBRA) had in serving women and minorities. CBRA is a more flexible programme than TBRA and may therefore serve women comparatively better. This paper applies econometric strategies to investigate whether women are more likely to choose CBRA over TBRA. We further analyse whether this effect is even stronger for women with uncertified but existing and occupational-relevant skills.
Our empirical findings accompany both hypotheses. Women are significantly more likely to enrol into CBRA programmes, relative to TBRA. Furthermore, women with existing but uncertified skills are significantly more likely to enrol into CBRA, whereas women without skills or with college degrees are not significantly different from the baseline. Our findings are robust to various specifications, and we include a comprehensive set of fixed-effect vectors, addressing industrial, occupational, and time-varying state unobserved heterogeneity. We also check the robustness of our linear probability methodology with alternative estimation methods and a Monte Carlo simulation. More descriptive findings suggest that CBRA programmes are concentrated in traditionally non-male-dominated occupations. These occupations pay on average lower wages, dampening the positive welfare impact that CBRA has through granting more women access to Registered Apprenticeship. We discuss the implications of our findings, highlighting how CBRA may be an approach to better serving more diverse populations in Registered Apprenticeship.
Shah, I. H., Au Yong Lyn, A., Rageth, L., Morlet, G.M., 2024. The Impact of Student-Centered Teaching Strategies on Educational Attainment in Econometrics: Evidence from the UK. Sage Open, 14(2).
This paper investigates the impact of student-centered teaching strategies (SCTS) on the educational attainment of econometrics students, at a university based in the UK. Theoretical foundations underlying the usage of SCTS suggest that SCTS is better for students’ long-term recall, comprehension, problem-solving abilities and interest in the subject. Yet, most existing studies have only examined short-run outcomes, and none in technical social-science fields. We contribute to the literature by empirically analyzing whether SCTS affects the long-term learning outcomes for a STEM-related social-science subject like econometrics, by comparing the impact of SCTS with traditional teacher-centered strategies using a repeated cross-sectional sample spanning over four academic years. Our results provide robust evidence that SCTS is positively associated with students’ grades in the long run. Heterogeneity analyzes additionally indicate that female students and those in the upper quantiles of the grade-distribution disproportionately benefit more from SCTS.