Splitting the bill: matching schooling to Dutch labour markets, 1750-1920

Abstract

Nowadays holding a degree is required for access to nearly all types of occupations, yet employers constantly seem to complain that schools do not teach the right type of skills. This interaction between education and the labour market is not a novelty, and goes back to at least the period of industrialisation, when new technologies radically changed demand for different groups of skilled workers. This dissertation examines how the provision of education was adapted to ensure skilled workers during in The Netherlands between 1750 and 1920. In so doing, it provides an alternative education history: one that reconstructs actual schooling and working trajectories of past adolescents, instead of mainly focussing on educational policy. Using a case-study approach based on micro-level data, the dissertation evaluates the effect of institutional changes in the provision of vocational, secondary and higher education in The Netherlands. It is found that regulation by craft guilds was never a prerequisite for on-the-job training to function. However, ongoing industrialisation pressed the need for formal post-elementary schooling for blue and white-collar workers. Contrary to expectation, it was not the central government but local municipalities who were vital in providing these schools. By for instance establishing and subsidizing new types of schools, and by replacing on-the-job training, local authorities were far more important for industrial catch-up than previously considered. Also in higher education local or regional organization proved more efficient in matching schooling to the labour market. This suggests that leeway for educational change at the local level may explain why countries were able to catch-up during industrialisation.