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The ongoing global digital transformation has significant implications for economies and societies, with potential benefits and challenges. This study addresses the critical need for a comprehensive measurement of regional digitalization in Germany to better understand its impact on various aspects of life, including education, employment, and working conditions. Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), it introduces a multifaceted regional digitalization measure at the administrative district level (NUTS-3) that incorporates digital infrastructure, culture, technology capacity, high-tech human capital, and digitalization-related innovativeness. Results for 2013 and 2017 are compared. The study reveals that digitalization varies significantly across regions, but hardly over time. Urban regions tend to have higher digitalization levels, which are positively associated with economic productivity and high-skilled labor demand. Our developed measurement of regional digitalization is publicly available.

We illuminate the socio‐cultural embeddedness of adolescents to explain gender‐typical occupational orientations (GTOO) from an intersectional perspective. We investigate whether and why immigrant and native youths differ in their GTOO. These issues are of practical and political importance, as deviations from the norm of the autochthonous majority society can drive change in the gender segregation of the labor market on the one hand but can also lead to difficulties in accessing training and work on the other. We use cross‐sectional data on ninth‐graders from the German National Educational Panel Study, which allows us to analyze distinct dimensions of GTOO, i.e., expectations and aspirations. The results of step‐wise multilevel models show that (a) differences in GTOO between immigrant and native youths apply to certain countries of origin - particularly females from Turkey, the country with the strongest contrast to the German context in terms of gender‐related labor market characteristics, differ in their aspirations from native females - and (b) differences between immigrant and native German expectations shrink with immigrant generation and after controlling for aspirations. This indicates that assimilation processes involving socialization‐related adaptation to the host society play a greater role than an increase in information about its labor market.

The labor market exhibits persistent occupational segregation by gender, with women and men performing distinct job tasks within their occupations. Prior research suggests that non-routine job tasks generally lead to higher wages, especially in digitally advancing contexts. However, these findings are largely based on cross-sectional data and neglect gender as a relevant dimension of inequality. We analyze three-wave panel data over nine years from the German National Educational Panel Study to explore the relationship between changes in non-routine job tasks and wages by gender. Given the constrained wage-setting opportunities within German firms, we further examine whether the association between task changes and wages differs for employees with and without job changes, both within and across occupational segments. Our fixed-effect regression analyses reveal gender-specific associations between changes in non-routine job tasks and wage increases. Men benefit from performing more complex and autonomous tasks, with additional gains when an inter-segmental job change accompanies the increase in complex job tasks. Conversely, women do not see wage benefits from enhancements in either complex or autonomous job tasks. These findings underscore the gendered patterns of wage increases associated with advancements in non-routine job tasks, with men profiting intra-individually from shifts towards more non-routine job tasks.

Previous research suggests that girls have higher occupational aspirations than boys before entering the labor market. We investigate whether this gender gap in occupational aspirations generalizes to secondary school students in Germany and illuminate the possible mechanisms behind these purported gender differences. For this purpose, we used a large and representative sample of ninth graders (N = 10,743) from the German National Educational Panel Study. Adolescents' occupational aspirations were coded on the International Socio-Economic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI) according to the socioeconomic status of the aspired occupation. Results showed that girls' occupational aspirations were 6.5 ISEI points higher than boys' (Cohen's d = .36). Mediation analyses further revealed that gender differences in vocational interest could explain one-half of the gender gap in occupational aspirations. This suggests that girls' higher occupational aspirations reflect their specific vocational interests rather than a general striving for higher status and prestige compared to boys.

We develop an integrative conceptual framework that seeks to explain individual differences in the ability to use information and communication technologies (ICT skills). Building on practice engagement theory, this framework views the continued usage of digital technologies at work and in everyday life (ICT use) as the key prerequisite for the acquisition of ICT skills. At the same time, the framework highlights that ICT use is itself contingent upon individual and contextual preconditions. We apply this framework to data from two recent German large-scale studies (N = 2,495 and N = 2,786, respectively) that offer objective measures of adults' ICT skills. Findings support our framework's view of ICT use as a key prerequisite for ICT skills. Moreover, they demonstrate that literacy skills have strong associations with ICT skills, largely by virtue of their indirect associations through ICT use. By comparison, regional digital cultures (as proxied by internet domain registration rates) evince only limited explanatory power for individual differences in ICT skills.

We develop an integrative conceptual framework that seeks to explain individual differences in digital skills. Building on practice engagement theory, this framework views the continued usage of digital technologies at work and in everyday life (ICT use) as the key prerequisite for the acquisition of digital skills. At the same time, the framework highlights that ICT use is itself contingent upon individual and contextual preconditions, most notably literacy skills. We apply this framework to data from two recent German large-scale studies (total N 5,281) that offer objective measures of adults' digital skills. Findings support our framework's view of ICT use as a key prerequisite for digital skills. Moreover, they demonstrate that literacy skills have strong associations with digital skills, largely by virtue of their indirect associations through ICT use. By comparison, regional digital cultures evince only limited explanatory power for individual differences in digital skills.

This study examined the prevalence, magnitude, and predictors of the aspiration-attainment gap (AAG) after the school-to-work transition. We operationalized the AAG as the discrepancy between the socioeconomic status (SES) of young people's realistic occupational aspirations and that of the position they actually attained. As a case in point, we investigated non-college-bound students transitioning into a vocational education and training (VET) position in Germany. Our aims were twofold: first, to establish how many students experience an AAG of what size; second, to identify characteristics that predict whether students experience an AAG. We considered sociostructural characteristics, cognitive ability and school grades, and Big Five personality traits as predictors (i.e., potential determinants) of the AAG. Analyses in a representative sample (N = 2,478) of intermediate secondary school (Realschule) students/graduates from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS; Starting Cohort 4) revealed that 45.9% of students experienced an AAG. Two-part regression models showed that the level of aspirations was the strongest predictor of the experience and size of an AAG, followed by school grades. Aspirations also mediated the effects of several other predictors, most importantly parental SES and school grades. Parental SES, female gender, and Emotional Stability had contradictory effects: They indirectly increased the risk of experiencing an AAG by raising aspirations, but at the same time they lowered this risk by directly increasing attainment. Overall, our results suggest that the AAG during the transition from school to VET is a widespread experience among students in Germany that is worthy of further investigation.

Compared to general education, vocational education and training (VET) has been shown to facilitate young people's integration into the labour market. At the same time, research suggests that VET falls short in teaching basic skills and, in turn, may lead to less adaptability to labour market changes and long-term disadvantages in individual labour market outcomes. To better understand the relationships between education, skills, and labour market outcomes, we examine to what extent job quality differs between individuals with general education and those with VET with respect to different skill levels. Furthermore, we investigate whether the relationship between type of qualification and job quality differs by skills. We broaden past research by considering four indicators of job quality: earnings, job security, job autonomy, and the match between respondents' abilities and job demands. Using data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies for Germany, we demonstrate that individuals with academic education and advanced VET score higher in job quality concerning earnings and job autonomy as compared to individuals with initial VET. Comparing the two higher qualified groups, academic education is more associated with higher earnings than advanced VET, while the level of job autonomy is similar. Regarding the abilities-demands match, both groups score lower than individuals with initial VET. Moreover, higher literacy skills are associated with higher levels of job quality irrespective of the type and level of formal qualification. Finally, we find no empirical evidence that skills compensate for or reinforce disadvantages in job quality derived from professional qualifications.

Low literacy among adolescents and adults worldwide remains a serious problem, even in economically developed countries. The consequences of low reading proficiency levels can be harmful in many ways for both the individuals concerned and their communities in terms of health, political, social and economic outcomes. While large-scale international assessments do assess reading proficiency, the data they provide for the bottom end of the scale are still somewhat undifferentiated. What is of particular concern to scholars and policymakers alike is to better understand the nature of reading difficulties among low-literate adolescents and adults. Addressing this need, the authors of this article present a new integrative process model which takes into consideration reader-related, text-related and task-related factors along different stages of the reading process that can cause reading difficulties. The process model incorporates different traditions of research on low reading proficiency: large-scale assessments, cognitive psychology, and research on developmental precursors of reading comprehension. It enabled the authors to identify core difficulty-generating factors, in particular task and text characteristics relevant in evaluating the difficulty of a reading task and thus in determining whether low-literate readers can solve it. The process model also proved suitable for incorporation into standard-setting practice. The authors demonstrate how the process model provided a framework for developing proficiency level descriptors (PLDs) which were then applied for the purpose of standard setting in a German large-scale assessment, the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). Their results show that the PLDs were indeed suitable for differentiating between a low reading proficiency level and a functional reading proficiency level among adolescents and adults.

Spatial mobility is an important means of tackling regional disparities and matching problems in education and labor markets, but it is also a source of individual social inequality as it is associated with higher socio-economic resources and returns. However, there is a paucity of research on the prevalence and predictors of spatial mobility among youth entering vocational education and training (VET). We examine the importance of (a) individual occupational orientations, (b) regional opportunity structures, and (c) social ties for the spatial mobility of youth in this early transition phase using longitudinal data from the German NEPS, which we combined with ad-ministrative geospatial data of German districts (NUTS-3). Our results show widespread spatial mobility among students entering the VET system: 16% are mobile within and 22% between regional labor markets. Multinomial logistic regression models show that, in addition to young people's occupational orientations (status aspirations; search duration) and social ties to friends, regional opportunity structures (general unattractiveness; person-environment mismatch) are crucial for youths' spatial mobility. This underscores the importance of spatial mobility given regional disparities to promote youths' access to VET and reduce regional mismatches in the VET market.

Wir gehen der Frage nach, in welcher Weise die Stratifizierung des Schulsystems einen Einfluss auf geschlechtstypische Berufserwartungen Jugendlicher nimmt: über schulspezifische geschlechtstypische Aspirationen oder sozialstatusbezogene Erwartungen. Wir analysieren Querschnittsdaten der Startkohorte 4 des Nationalen Bildungspanels (NEPS, Wellen 2010–2011) zu Schülerinnen und Schülern der Klassenstufe neun in Deutschland. Anhand von Mehrebenen-Mediationsanalysen zeigen wir, dass schulspezifische Berufsaspirationen den Einfluss der Schulform auf die Berufserwartungen Jugendlicher vermitteln. Niedrige Schulformen, vor allem Hauptschulen, sind dabei durch stärker geschlechtstypische Berufsaspirationen geprägt als Gymnasien. Darüber hinaus sind auch schulspezifische Berufserwartungen hinsichtlich des Sozialstatus für Unterschiede in den geschlechtstypischen Berufserwartungen von Bedeutung. Eine mögliche Erklärung für diesen Befund sind die stark nach Geschlecht segregierten Gelegenheitsstrukturen vor allem im niedrig qualifizierten Arbeitsmarktsegment. Schlagworte: Berufliche Geschlechtersegregation, Berufsaspirationen, Berufserwartungen, Schulformen, Schulkontext, NEPS, Mediationsanalysen