Education, Vocational Training and Employment in Germany

Since early 1990, the majority of researchers and social science research institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany have been asked to examine and analyse the rapid and often dramatic economic and social transformations resulting from the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and the subsequent reunification process of the eleven ‘old’ Länder (regions) of the West with the six new Länder of East Germany. ¹ The issues of education and work, and the question of employment policies in particular, lie at the heart of these analyses. Reunification has also led to the ‘restructuring’ of research bodies in former East Germany and to an increase in exchanges and joint comparative projects conducted by researchers in both East and West. ²