Schulformen und sozioökonomischer Erfolg im jungen Erwachsenenalter: Werden unterschiedliche Ausbildungswege auf dem Arbeitsmarkt gleich honoriert?

There has been much discussion of the extent to which the secondary school type attended influences learning and educational trajectories in Germany. However, little is yet known about the effects of school type on later labor market outcomes. This article aims to fill this gap by taking a longitudinal perspective on the effects of attending different secondary school types (following N = 5292 persons from the beginning of grade 7) on later occupational characteristics (job prestige, income, and unemployment at age 31 years). At first glance, the results point to differences between school types, but these effects are to a large extent explained by school/vocational qualifications and by individual and social differences. When it comes to predicting income and unemployment, at least, vocational qualifications, in particular, seem to be decisive. The effect of attending a vocational-track Hauptschule relative to the other school types remains associated with lower occupational status, however, even with additional control for individual and social background. The findings suggest that different educational pathways in the form of different secondary school types are indeed to some extent differently rewarded on the labor market: not in terms of income and unemployment, but in terms of occupational status.