Catherine Sofer

School-to-work transition: apprenticeship versus vocational school in France

There has recently been a strong drive to develop apprenticeship in France, as one means of decreasing youth unemployment. Our aim in this paper is to try to measure the “pure” within‐firm training effect on school‐to‐work transition. We address the problem of the transition to the first job, using a model of simultaneous maximum likelihood estimation of several probabilities and of the parameters of the probability density function linked to the exit from unemployment. We conclude that apprentices have a distinct advantage over those who attended vocational school. This effect is stronger when we correct for the negative selection bias associated with the choice of apprenticeship.

Why Do Women's Wages Increase So Slowly Throughout Their Career? A Dynamic Model of Statistical Discrimination

The aim of this paper is to explain the growing wage differentials between men and women during their working careers. We provide a dynamic model of statistical discrimination, which integrates specific human capital decisions: on-the-job training investment and wages are endogenously determined. We reveal a small wage differential at the beginning of womens career, but womens wages increase more slowly; this is partly due to a lower level of human capital investment by women and partly because firms smooth training costs between different periods.

Apprenticeship Versus Vocational School: A comparison of performances

Human Capital Over the Life Cycle synthesises comparative research on the processes of human capital formation in the areas of education and training in Europe, in relation to the labour market. The book proposes that one of the most important challenges faced by Europe today is to understand the link between education and training on the one hand and economic and social inequality on the other. The authors focus the analysis on three main aspects of the links between education and social inequality: educational inequality, differences in access to labour markets and differences in lifelong earnings and training.

The extent of labour specialization in the extended family: A theoretical and empirical analysis

Abstract. In this paper we present a simple model of labour supply that is cast within the framework of an extended family. The model emphasizes a Ricardian division of labour whereby the specialization is solely driven by marginal productivity and value of time differentials. The empirical implications of the model are derived and tested using data that was collected in France to study the extent of trade within the family network. We find evidence that the extent of specialization is sensitive to the value of time differentials.

Women's Investment in Career and Household Division of Labor

The effects of women’s strong investments in career on the intra-household division of labor, particularly the share of partners in domestic work, constitute important but unaddressed issues. We use the 2010 French Time Use survey, focusing on two-income couples. We first build indicators of female investment in career, measured in comparison to other similar women or to the woman’s partner. We then investigate how the partners allocate time according to the intensity of women’s investment. To achieve this objective, we estimate a five-equation model of domestic and labor market work by partners and the use of domestic help. We show that couples where women are invested in career tend to share tasks more equally. These women do less domestic work during weekdays. This diminution is partly compensated on weekends by their partners, but also slightly by women themselves on weekends when they invest more in their careers than their partners do. Also, when they are heavily invested in their careers compared to other women, they tend to use more often domestic help. However, even when women dedicate themselves more than their partners to their careers, women still spend more time on domestic tasks than their partners on average, implying no role reversal in the division of labor.

Comparaison de l'accès au premier emploi des apprentis et des lycéens

Our aim is to compare the access to the first job of apprentices and vocational school leavers and therefore measure the « pure » within-firm training effect. The model estimates the parameters linked to the probabilities of being an apprentice and being employed, and those associated to the probability density function of the unemployment duration. Apprentices seem to have a distinct advantage over those who attended vocational school in term of access to the first job.