Collective Skill Formation in Europe

Summary

Collective skill formation has a long tradition in bringing multiple private and public actors together in the provision of competences needed in the labor market and in fostering stable careers of individuals. This type of skill formation combines the logics of economic production, focused on efficiency, and of the education system, focused on individual development and social inclusion. Collective skill formation stands out as a skill system that requires a high degree of decentralized cooperation of the stakeholders—not least to balance the tensions between these two logics. Here, an important role is allocated to intermediary associations such as employers’ associations or unions that strategically coordinate their members. Collective skill formation can be contrasted to liberal (market-based) skill formation and state-dominated skill formation, each with its own set of comparative (dis-)advantages. Today, collective skill formation is affected by trends toward academization in the knowledge-based economy, the need to provide adequate skills in times of rapid labor market changes, and megatrends such as the digital and green transitions. The article provides an overview of the key structures and stakeholders in collective skill formation and examines related emerging challenges. It analyzes the role for state actors in reforming the conditions that enable private actors to keep running core functions of the system on their own and avoid collective action problems. The empirical focus is on the key cases of collective skill formation in Europe (Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland), also exploring varieties within this country group.