Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs
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Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs
#2The apprenticeships are particularly important.
Many brilliant friends of mine who failed university or even high school did an apprenticeship instead.
Among them are CEOs, R&D managers and founders.
Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs
#3You could make the argument that the Mittelstand has profited from Germany's controlling stake and dominance in the EU. One of the big arguments for non German businesses seeking to leave the EU have been perceptions of unfair EU bureaucratic advantage to German businesses at the expense of other member states.
Having said that they have a very good national business model and an excellent culture around vocational training and expertise building.
Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs
#4The apprenticeships are particularly important. Many brilliant friends of mine who failed university or even high school did an apprenticeship instead. Among them are CEOs, R&D managers and founders.
Were the apprenticeships for factory jobs/careers?
Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs
#5Because German engineering is world-renowned. This much has been known for a good long while. You can take a German bearing of 'low quality' vs. a Chinese bearing of 'high quality' and easily tell that the German bearing is far superior.
It only makes sense such engineering capability would result in a lot of manufacturing work in the middle-class range.
Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs
#6I'd like to think it's because WW2 changed us, for the better. We just want to build great things now and help everyone and not only ourselves. We respect others, independent of race or nationality, and it think we're much less superficial than some other countries are. But that holds true for most European countries so IDK, maybe I'm simplifying it too much right now. It just feels that way to me.
Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs
#7Because German engineering is world-renowned. This much has been known for a good long while. You can take a German bearing of 'low quality' vs. a Chinese bearing of 'high quality' and easily tell that the German bearing is far superior. It only makes sense such engineering capability would result in a lot of manufacturing work in the middle-class range.
And the reason that this is true is because Germany protect those jobs and values people that mastered their craft.
Which are the valued blue collar jobs in US - doctor, chef, programmer and lawyer. That's it.
Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs
#8I was surprised the article didn't mention the euro, specifically how Germany gets to denominate its goods in a cheap currency that doesn't fully reflect its strong fiscal policies.
Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs
#9The apprenticeships are particularly important. Many brilliant friends of mine who failed university or even high school did an apprenticeship instead. Among them are CEOs, R&D managers and founders.
Were the apprenticeships for factory jobs/careers?
A large number of apprenticeships in Germany are in the metal and electronics industry. Check out the list [0] (in German). In fact, most jobs listed there are performed in factories, with desk-jobs being second.
0: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_von_Ausbildungsberufen#M...
Edit: many jobs on the list were retired (fused into others) in 2013 so it's probably a little outdated, but it tells a tale.
Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs
#10The HBR article cites the high inheritance tax in the U.S. as reason for the low number of middle class jobs. But, to the contrary, today the inheritance tax in the U.S. is lower than in Germany.