Key words: workplace, apprenticeships, short and long-term benefits

This dissertation investigates the determinants of firms’ short and long-term benefits of providing apprenticeships. The first essay deals with the relation between apprentices’ pre-training competencies and their productivity at the workplace. The results show that especially problem-solving competencies make apprentices more productive. The second essay deals with labor market regulation and evidences that firms organize their training in a more beneficial way, when labor markets become more flexible. The third essay analyzes the effect of modernizations in the training curricula on the supply of and demand for training places. It demonstrates that when curricula include more choice options more firms are willing to supply training places. Finally, the fourth essay examines the relationship between individual preferences and the training investments and reveals that more altruistic managers and managers with lower time preferences are more likely to invest in training.