Skills at work: an analysis of the interaction between training and occupations in the labour market

我的研究探讨了劳动经济学中与政策相关的主题，在方法上强调应用计量经济学。更具体地说，我的主要研究议程侧重于研究人力资本的特殊性，目的是深入了解工人在不同职业中执行任务所需的技能。这方面的知识对于了解劳动力在部门变化中的适应情况尤为重要。在IFS的一年学习期间，我打算继续在这个领域工作。特别是，我想(1)研究一个扩展我以前工作的项目想法，(2)与IFS研究人员一起开发和启动一个新项目，(3)花有限的时间完成工作论文，这是我博士论文的基础（见下文对这些研究目标的更详细描述）。在从事上述工作的同时，我计划与IFS社区密切互动，并参加研讨会和讲习班。此外，我想特别强调我的工作对政策的影响，并与更广泛的非学术受众接触，传播我的研究成果。(1)我的第一个研究目标是从事一个名为“培训、职业和毕业后进入衰退的影响”的项目，并编写一份工作论文的初稿，其中包含了这项研究的成果。该项目的目的是调查在经济衰退中毕业对德国学徒的影响。许多研究发现，不利的入职条件对大学毕业生产生了持续的负面影响，但对其他工人群体的影响却知之甚少。我的博士论文的发现让我更进一步，也调查了任何估计影响背后的潜在机制。特别是，我感兴趣的是评估入职条件对工资的负面影响在多大程度上可以用工人在与其培训无关的职业中开始工作来解释。解决这个问题是设计成功政策的关键，这些政策旨在减轻不利的进入条件对年轻工人的影响。我的第二个研究目标是与IFS的研究人员开发并启动一个新项目。根据之前与IFS研究人员的讨论，这可能涉及分析从事与英国工人培训不同的职业的发生率和影响。人们对这种现象在英国的普遍程度知之甚少，但调查数据表明，英国可能有相对较大比例的受影响员工。这种现象的后果尚不清楚。特别是，考虑到英国和德国高等教育体系的结构性差异，对工人的影响可能会非常不同。通过将IFS在英国从事培训相关问题的研究经验与我在德国背景下研究该主题的专业知识相结合，拟议的研究项目可以为英国培训体系提供重要见解，并为旨在为英国工人提供最佳培训的政策提供信息。我的第三个研究目标是完成我的工作论文《化学家是好银行家吗？》《回归培训与职业的匹配》一书探讨了将一种特定职业的培训与另一种职业的工作相结合的回报。我使用一个行政就业面板来研究这些回报，其中包含了德国工人的学徒培训。为了完成这个项目并将其提交到学术期刊上发表，我计划花有限的时间将我收到的反馈纳入学术就业市场的一部分。这将包括对实证结果进行进一步的稳健性检查，以及扩展和完善基于我的结果的政策含义。

My research explores policy-relevant topics in labour economics, with a methodological emphasis on applied econometrics. More specifically, my main research agenda focuses on studying the specificity of human capital with the goal of providing insights into the skills that workers require to carry out the tasks demanded across different occupations. Knowledge in this area is of particular importance to understand the adaptation of the workforce in light of sectoral change. During my one-year fellowship at the IFS, I am proposing to continue working in this area. In particular, I would like to (1) work on a project idea which extends my previous work, (2) develop and start a new project together with IFS researchers, and (3) spend a limited amount of time to complete the working paper which forms the basis of my PhD dissertation (see below for a more detailed description of these research objectives). While working on the above, I am planning to interact closely with the IFS community, and participate in seminars and workshops. Moreover, I would like to put particular emphasis on the policy implications of my work, and engage with a wider non-academic audience to disseminate my research findings.(1) My first research objective is to work on a project titled "Training, Occupations, and the Effects of Graduating into Recessions", and produce a first draft of a working paper containing the outcomes of this research. The aim of this project is to investigate the effects of graduating in a recession for apprentices in Germany. A number of studies find negative persistent effects of adverse entry conditions for college graduates, but little is known about the effects for other groups of workers. The findings from my PhD dissertation allow me to go a step further, and also investigate potential mechanisms behind any estimated effects. In particular, I am interested in evaluating to what extent negative wage effects from entry conditions can be explained by workers starting jobs in occupations unrelated to their training. Addressing this question is key to designing successful policies aimed at mitigating the effects of adverse entry conditions for young workers. (2) My second research objective is to develop and start a new project with researchers at the IFS. Based on previous discussions with IFS researchers, this could involve analysing the incidence and effects of working in an occupation different from one's training for workers in the UK. Little is known about the prevalence of this phenomenon in the UK, but survey data suggests that the UK may have a relatively large share of affected workers. The consequences of this phenomenon are not well understood. In particular, given the structural differences between the British and German post-secondary education systems, the outcomes for workers could potentially be very different. By combining the experience of researches at the IFS of working on training-related questions in the UK with my expertise from working on the topic in the German context, the proposed research project could provide important insights into the UK training system and inform policies aimed at providing optimal training for workers in the UK. (3) My third research objective is to finalise my working paper "Are Chemists Good Bankers? Returns to the Match between Training and Occupation" which explores the returns of combining training in a specific occupation with work in another. I study these returns using an administrative employment panel which contains the apprenticeship training for workers in Germany. In order to finalise this project and submit it for publication to an academic journal, I am planning to spend a limited amount of time to incorporate the feedback I received as part of the academic job market. This will include conducting further robustness checks on the empirical results, as well as extending and refining the policy implications that are based on my results.