Open labor markets and Firms’ substitution between training apprentices and hiring workers

In this paper, we study whether Swiss employers substitute between training apprentices and hiring cross-border workers. Because both skilled workers are costly for firms, hypothesize that (easier) access to will lead some away from their own We account potential endogeneity issues by instrumenting a firm’s share of using distance the national border therefore its possibility fall back on satisfy labor demand. find OLS 2SLS estimates negative across wide range alternative specifications, suggesting firms when supply is higher. Our preferred estimate implies increase in firms’ within our observation period, 1995 2008, led about 3500 fewer apprenticeship positions (equal 2% total number apprentice positions).