Vocational Qualifications of the Labour Force in Britain and Germany∗

‘All the world has much to learn from German methods of education’, said Alfred Marshall some sixty years ago; as many others have also recognised, this is particularly true of vocational education. Until very recently however it has not been possible to make any comprehensive comparisons of the labour force—to assess the proportions of workers in various industries who have qualified at specified levels, and the proportions who have remained unqualified. Statistical comparisons of qualifications of the labour force hitherto have generally been confined to the narrow stratum of those in the uppermost educational echelons (those with university degrees or their equivalent); where more basic skills have been considered, comparisons have been limited to enrolments for selected broad groups of vocational courses. Very little has been available on the stock who have reached tested levels of proficiency.