Educational and school-to-work pathways of majority and ethnic minority youth in Germany

This chapter looks at ethnic differences in secondary education and school-to-work transition pathways in Germany, paying particular attention to the role of “non-standard” pathways in the generation (or reduction) of ethnic inequalities in school-to-work transitions. Our results show that ethnic minorities are more likely to initially be on trajectories that lead to adverse outcomes later. However, they also use these pathways to correct for initially disadvantageous conditions. Thus, while non-standard education pathways bear the risk of adverse school-to-work transition outcomes, they are also an important route for ethnic minorities to catch up with their majority peers during the transition phase. Adjusting our results for socioeconomic background characteristics and ability measures suggests that this catching-up process is due to higher ambitions among the minority population.