VOCATIONAL-TRAINING AND CAREER-DEVELOPMENT IN GERMANY - RESULTS FROM A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY

The present paper presents empirical results from a German panel study which collected longitudinal data regarding the job entry of young ad ults in six of the top training occupations in the service and technic al-industrial sectors. The data clearly demonstrate the influence of g ender and social origin on the access to training in particular occupa tions. Furthermore, the existence of gender and occupation-specific pa tterns of career development is demonstrated. However, the apprentices hip system also provides mobility opportunities which depend on the sp ecific training occupation. Moving along a certain occupational pathwa y results in an interplay between the structural opportunities and con straints of occupational contexts, on the one hand, and the young work ers' aspirations and orientations, on the other. These orientations an d aspirations were investigated with qualitative methods which helped to identify different modes of biographical action orientations of you ng workers.