School-to-Work Linkages in the United States, Germany, and France

A new research agenda is proposed for assessing the strength of linkages between educational credentials, including fields of study, and occupational positions. The authors argue that a theoretically fruitful conception of linkage strength requires a focus on granular structure as well as the macroinstitutional characteristics of pathways between education and the labor market. Building on recent advances in the study of multigroup segregation, the authors find that Germany has stronger overall linkage strength than France or the United States. However, the extent to which the three countries differ varies substantially across educational levels and fields of study. The authors illustrate the substantive importance of the new approach by showing, first, that the standard organization space/qualification space distinction poorly describes the contemporary difference between Germany and France and, second, that relative mean occupational wages in Germany and the United States vary directly with the relative linkage strength for occupations in the two countries.