Apprenticeships improve job opportunities

In Italy, as in many other European countries, apprenticeships and on-the-job training have been gaining popularity. Although being only of temporary nature and exhibiting a relatively low level of employment protection, apprenticeships are widely believed to be a successful form of employment as they may eventually lead to permanent contracts. A new IZA discussion paper by Matteo Picchio and Stefano Staffolani puts this claim at a test by using administrative labor market data from Italy. The authors affirm that apprenticeships are sorts of “long entrance halls” towards open-ended contracts: apprentices often remain in the firm where they performed their apprenticeship.