Human capital investment and job creation: the role of the education and production systems

This paper provides empirical evidence on two mechanisms through which a committed investment in human capital serves as a stepping stone into permanent employment. I verify whether regional disparities in general education and production systems affect the capacity of the apprenticeship labour contract to create job matches that persist over time. I find that when the quality of the regional education system is good, the medium-run gains in terms of permanent employment can be moderate. However, a small number of productive firms in a region limits the quantity of job entries as apprentices.