Closing the Gap? The Impact of Further Training for Career Inequality between Workers with Vocational and General Education

The relative merits of vocational and general education remain central to debates on sustainable careers. Vocational pathways facilitate smoother school-to-work transitions but rely on occupation-specific skills that may become obsolete, whereas general education yields weaker entry prospects but greater adaptability to changing demands. A key question is whether further training can offset these trade-offs. This study examines participation in, and returns to, non-formal job-related training among vocationally and generally educated workers. Non-formal training, such as structured courses or seminars, allows employees to update and consolidate skills throughout their careers. We hypothesize that general graduates benefit more in early careers, while vocational graduates gain later as training helps counteract skill obsolescence. Drawing on longitudinal data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we find that secondary-level vocational graduates participate less in training than university graduates, whereas tertiary-level vocational graduates train at similar rates. Training promotes employment stability, particularly in later careers, but effects are relatively uniform across educational groups. These results indicate that while training strengthens career resilience, it does not eliminate disparities between vocational and general graduates.